r 


fc 


•^* 


cUItDj 


VOLL.....  .:;£ 


THE   BROWN   OWL 


THE  CHILDREN'S  LIBRARY, 


THE  BROWN  OWL. 
STORIES  FROM  FAIRYLAND. 
THE  CHINA  CUP,  AND  other  Stories. 
TALES  FROM  THE  MABINOGION. 


THE 

BROWN    OWL 

a  JFairg  Storg 


BY 
FORD   H.  MADOX   HUEFFER 


TIVO  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 
F.  MADOX  BROWN 


NEW    YORK 

FRFnTTRJCK   A.   STOKES    COMPANY 

MDCCCXCI 


Digitized  by  tiie  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2008  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcli  ive.org/details/brownowlfairystoOOfordricli 


THE    BROWN    OWL 


NCE  upon  a  time,  a  long 
while  ago — in  fact  long 
before  Egypt  had  risen  to 
power  and  before  Rome  or  Greece 
had  ever  been  heard  of — and  that  was 
some  time  before  you  were  born,  you 
know — there  was  a  king  who  reigned 
over  a  very  large  and  powerful  king- 
dom. 

Now  this  king  was  rather  old,  he 
had  founded  his  kingdom  himself,  and 
he  had  reigned  over  it  nine  hundred 
and  ninety -nine  and  a  half  years 
already.  As  I  have  said  before,  it  was 
a  very  large  kingdom,  for  it  contained, 
among  other  things,  the  whole  of  the 
western  half  of  the  world.     The  rest  of 


2  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  world  was  divided  into  smaller 
kingdoms,  and  each  kingdom  was  ruled 
over  by  separate  princes,  who,  however, 
were  none  of  them  so  old  as  Inta- 
fernes,  as  he  was  called. 

Now  King  Intafernes  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly powerful  magician  —  that 
was  why  he  had  remained  so  long 
on  the  throne;  for  you  must  know  that 
in  this  country  the  people  were  divided 
into  two  classes — those  who  were  magi- 
cians, and  those  who  weren't.  The 
magicians  called  themselves  Aristocrats, 
and  the  others  called  themselves  what 
they  liked ;  also  in  this  country,  as  in 
all  other  countries,  the  rich  magicians 
had  the  upper  hand  over  the  rest,  but 
still  the  others  did  not  grumble,  for 
they  were  not  badly  treated  on  the 
whole.  Now  of  all  the  magicians  in 
the  country  the  King  was  the  greatest, 
and  no  one  approached  him  in  magic 
power  but  the  Chancellor,  who  wa^ 
called  Merrymineral,  and  he  even  was 
no  match  for  the  King. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  3 

Among  other  things  King  Inta- 
fernes  had  a  daughter,  who  was  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful — as  indeed  all  prin- 
cesses are  or  ought  to  be.  She  had  a 
very  fair  face,  and  a  wealth  of  golden 
hair  that  fell  over  her  shoulders,  like  a 
shining  waterfall  falling  in  ripples  to 
her  waist. 

Now  in  the  thousandth  year  of  her 
father's  reign  the  Princess  was  eighteen, 
and  in  that  country  she  was  already  of 
age.  Three  days  before  her  nineteenth 
birthday,  however,  her  father  fell  sick 
and  gradually  weakened,  until  at  last 
he  had  only  strength  left  to  lie  in  his 
royal  bed.  Still,  however,  he  retained 
his  faculties,  and  on  the  Princess's 
birthday  he  made  all  the  magicians 
file  before  his  bed  and  swear  to  be 
faithful  for  ever  to  the  Princess.  Last 
of  all  came  the  Chancellor,  the  pious 
Merrymineral,  and  as  he  took  the  oath 
the  King  looked  at  him  with  a  loving 
glance  and  said : 

*  Ah !    my    dear    Merrymineral,    in 


4  THE  BROWN  OWL 

truth  there  was  no  need  for  thee  to 
have  taken  the  oath,  for  it  is  thy 
nature  to  be  faithful ;  and  it  being  thy 
nature,  thou  couldst  not  but  be  faith- 
ful.' 

To  which  the  pious  Merrymineral 
answered : 

'To  such  a  master  and  to  such  a 
mistress  how  could  I  but  be  faithful  ? ' 
and  to  this  noble  sentiment  the  three 
hundred  and  forty -seven  magicians 
could  not  help  according  unanimous 
applause. 

When  they  were  quiet  again  the 
King  said  : 

'  So  be  it,  good  Merrymineral,  do  thou 
always  act  up  to  thy  words.  But  now 
leave,  good  men  all,  for  I  am  near  my 
end,  and  would  fain  spend  my  last 
moments  with  my  daughter  here.' 

Sorrowfully,  one  by  one,  the  courtiers 
left,  wishing  him  their  last  adieux. 
He  had  been  a  good  king  to  all,  all 
through  his  long  reign,  and  they  were 
sorry  that  he  had  to  leave  them  at  last. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  $ 

Soon  they  were  all  gone  except  the 
good  Merrymineral,  and  at  last  he  too 
went,  his  whole  frame  shaking  with 
suppressed  sobs;  his  body  seemed 
powerless  with  grief,  and  his  limbs 
seemed  to  refuse  their  functions.  The 
King  looked  after  him,  carefully  noticing 
whether  the  door  was  shut.  Then  he 
spoke  : 

*  My  dear  daughter,'  he  said,  '  when 
I  am  gone  be  kind  to  every  one,  and, 
above  all,  cherish  the  Owl — do  cherish 
the  Owl — promise  me  to  cherish  the 
Owl.' 

'  But  how  can  I  cherish  the  Owl  ?  * 
cried  the  poor  Princess;  'how  can  I, 
unless  I  know  who  he  is  ? ' 

But  the  King  only  answered : 

'  Dear  Ismara,  do  promise  to  cherish 
the  Owl ! ' 

And  he  said  nothing  else  for  a  long 
time,  until  at  last  the  Princess  saw  that 
the  only  way  to  let  him  rest  in  peace 
was  to  promise,  and  she  said  : 

'  I  promise,  dear  father,  but  still  I 


6  THE  BROWN  OWL 

do  wish  I  knew  who  or  what  the  Owl 
is  that  I  am  to  cherish.' 

'You  will  see  that  in  good  time,' 
answered  the  King.  'Now,  my  dear 
Ismara,  I  shall  die  happy,  and  you 
will  be  safe.  If  you  had  not  pro- 
mised— however,  we  will  let  that  rest 
unsaid.  Now  wheel  the  bed  to  where 
I  can  see  out  of  the  window.' 

The  Princess  did  as  she  was  told. 
Now  from  this  you  must  not  imagine 
that  she  was  a  very  strong  princess — 
for  she  was  no  stronger  than  most 
princesses  of  her  age;  but  the  old 
King,  who  was  a  very  powerful  magi- 
cian, as  I  have  told  you  already,  made 
the  bed  easy  for  her  to  move.  He 
might  have  made  it  move  of  its  own 
accord,  but  he  knew  that  it  would 
please  his  daughter  to  be  of  service  to 
him,  and  so  he  let  her  move  it. 

The  view  from  the  window  was  very 
fine.  A  dark  wood  grew  in  the  fore- 
ground, and  far  away  over  the  tree-tops 
were  the  blue  hills,  behind  which  the 


THE  BROWN  OWL  7 

sun  was  just  preparing  to  retire.  And 
it  seemed  angry,  the  sun,  for  its  face 
was  dark  and  clouded,  and  its  beams 
smote  fiercely  on  everything,  and  gilded 
the  tops  of  the  autumn  trees  with  a 
purer  gold  than  their  natural  tint. 
But  overhead  the  clouds  spread  darkly, 
and  they  reached  in  a  black  pall  to 
the  verge  of  the  horizon,  forming  a  black 
frame  to  the  red-gold  sunset ;  for  only 
the  extreme  west  was  bright  with  the 
waning  light. 

The  Princess  sat  on  the  bed  beside 
the  King,  and  the  dying  sun  lit  them 
both  and  fell  with  a  ruddy  glare  on 
the  King's  hard  countenance,  as  if  it 
knew  that  his  work  on  earth  for  the 
day,  and  for  ever,  was  done. 

'  Is  it  not  grand  ? '  cried  the  old 
King,  as  if  the  glorious  sight  warmed 
his  blood  again  and  made  him  once 
more  young.  *  And  is  it  not  grand  to 
think  of  the  power  that  thou  hast,  my 
daughter  ?  If  thou  but  raise  thy  little 
finger  armies   will  move  from  world's 


8  THE  BROWN  OWL 

end  to  world's  end.  Fleets  come 
daily  from  every  land  for  thee  alone ; 
all  that  thou  seest  is  thine,  and  utterly 
within  thy  power.  Think  of  the  power, 
the  grand  power,  of  swaying  the  world.' 

But  long  before  he  had  got  thus 
far,  the  Princess  was  weeping  bitterly — 
partly  at  the  overwhelming  prospect, 
and  partly  from .  her  great  grief.  She 
seized  her  father's  hand  and  kissed  it 
passionately. 

'My  father,  my  father,'  she  cried, 
'  say  not  so  \  they  are  all  thine,  not  mine, 
for  thou  livest  still,  and  all  is  yet  well.' 

But  the  old  King  cut  her  short : 

'  Dost  thou  see  the  sun  ?  Look, 
its  lower  rim  is  already  cut  by  the 
mountains.  When  its  disc  is  hidden 
I  too  shall  have  joined  the  majority, 
and  my  soul  will  have  left  my  body, 
and  the  power  will  be  thine.  But 
above  all  cherish  the  Owl.  Never  go 
out  of  its  sight,  for  if  thou  do,  some 
harm  will  happen.' 

As  he  stopped  speaking  a  flash  of 


THE  BROWN  OWL  9 

lightning  lit  up  the  sky,  and  the  sullen 
roar  of  distant  thunder  followed. 

From  every  church  in  the  land  the 
passing  bell  tolled  forth  and  the  solemn 
sounds  came  swelling  on  the  breeze. 
Again  came  the  flash  of  lightning,  and 
again  the  thunder,  and  now  the  splash 
of  falling  rain  accompanied  and  almost 
drowned  the  thunder.  The  sun's  rim 
was  now  almost  down. 

For  the  last  time  the  old  King  kissed 
his  daughter,  as  she  hung  weeping  on 
his  neck.  Again  the  lightning  came, 
but  this  time  the  thunder  was  drowned 
in  a  more  fearful  sound.  Never  before 
had  the  sound  been  heard,  except  at 
the  death  of  the  Princess's  mother. 
It  was  the  passing  bell  of  the  cathedral 
of  the  town.  And  as  its  sound  went 
forth  throughout  the  whole  land  men 
shook  their  heads  in  sorrow,  for  they 
knew  that  the  soul  of  the  good  King 
had  left  his  body.  Through  the  whole 
land  the  news  was  known — to  every 
one  except  to  the  Princess. 


lo  THE  BROWN  OWL 

For  she  lay  on  the  bed  passionately 
kissing  the  dead  face — not  yet  cold  in 
death — and  calling  on  his  name  in 
vain;  for  the  ears  of  the  dead  are 
closed  '  to  the  voice  of  the  charmer, 
charm  he  never  so  wisely.' 

Gradually  the  voice  of  the  Princess 
died  away  into  low  sobs  and  her  breath- 
ing came  more  regularly,  and  in  spite 
of  the  tolling  of  the  death-bell  she 
slept,  worn  out  by  her  grief.  No  one 
came  near  her,  for  at  the  Court  no 
one  was  allowed  to  enter  the  royal 
presence  without  a  command,  what- 
ever happened.  So  for  a  time  the 
Princess  slept  on,  clasping  the  still 
face  to  her  warm  cheek.  But  at  last 
the  death -cold  of  the  face  wakened 
her  once  more  to  the  death -cold  of 
the  world.  For  a  time  her  wakening 
dreams  refused  to  let  her  believe  the 
worst,  but  the  stern  reality  forced 
itself  on  her.  She  raised  herself  on 
her  two  arms  and  gazed  through  the 
darkness  at  the  white  face  that  made 


THE  BROWN  OWL  ii 

her  shudder  when  her  longing  eyes 
at  last  traced  out  its  lines  as  a  flash 
of  lightning  lit  it  up.  She  sprang  off 
the  bed  with  a  wild  impulse  of  calling 
for  help. 

But  no  sooner  had  she  got  to  the 
door  and  had  given  the  call  than  she 
once  more  fainted  and  seemed  for  a 
time  lifeless. 

"When  she  came  to  herself  again  she 
was  in  bed  in  her  own  room.  It  was 
still  night,  and  at  the  side  of  her  bed 
a  night-light  was  burning  in  a  glass 
shade.  She  could  not  understand 
what  it  all  meant;  but  her  head  did 
ache  so,  and  she  could  not  tell  why 
they  were  making  such  a  noise  at  the 
far  end  of  the  room.  For  you  see  she 
was  lying  on  her  back  low  down  in  the 
pillows,  and  so  she  could  not  see 
beyond  the  foot  of  the  bed.  How- 
ever, she  raised  herself  on  her  elbow 
and  looked.  For  a  short  time  she 
could  see  nothing,  for  the  room  was 
somewhat  dark,  as  the  night-light  gave 


12  THE  BROWN  OWL 

but  little  light.  But  at  the  other  end 
of  the  room  a  large  fire  was  burning, 
and  by  its  light  the  Princess  saw  a 
strange  scene. 

For  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  she 
could  make  out  a  group  of  three  ladies- 
in-waiting,  who  were  struggling  with  a 
large  black  object — what  it  was  the 
Princess  could  not  see,  but  it  seemed 
to  be  attempting  to  attack  the  Court 
doctor,  who  was  huddled  up  in  a 
corner  with  his  umbrella  spread  out 
before  him,  and  he  was  gradually 
sinking  down  behind  it,  giving  vent 
to  the  most  horrible  groans  and 
shrieks  for  mercy,  and  calling  to  the 
ladies  to  keep  it  off.  However,  in 
spite  of  their  eflbrts,  the  'thing'  was 
gradually  drawing  them  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  poor  doctor. 

But  the  strangest  thing  of  all  was 
that  the  doctor's  face  was  lit  up  by 
two  distinct  rounds  of  light.  It  was 
just  as  if  some  one  had  turned  the 
light  of  a  bull's-eye  lantern  on  him, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  13 

and  this  the  Princess  could  not  under- 
stand at  all.  However,  she  lay  still 
and  watched. 

The  doctor  got  farther  and  farther 
behind  the  umbrella  until  only  his 
head  appeared  over  the  top  of  it.  At 
last  he  shrieked : 

*  Send  for  a  regiment  of  Lifeguards — 
let  them  shoot  the  Owl — it  is  necessary 
for  the  health  of  the  Princess.  Owls 
are  very  bad  things  to  have  in  bed- 
rooms— they  bring  scarlatina,  and  they 
always  carry  the  influenza  epidemic. 
Lifeguards,  I  tell  you,  send  for  them.* 
But  still  the  '  thing '  came  nearer,  and 
with  an  agonised  shriek  of  '  The  Owl !' 
he  sank  altogether  under  the  rim. 

This  loud  cry  of  '  The  Owl '  roused 
the  Princess,  and  she  remembered  her 
promise  to  cherish  the  Owl.  So  she 
called  to  the  ladies-in-waiting,  and  they, 
astonished,  let  go  the  thing,  and  the 
Owl  immediately  flew  at  the  umbrella, 
underneath  which  the  doctor  was 
coiled  up,  and   perched   on  the  top. 


14  THE  BROWN  OWL 

The  Princess,  however,  thought  it  was 
rather  rash  to  have  promised  to  cherish 
the  Owl  if  it  was  going  to  eat  up  her 
physicians  in  that  reckless  manner. 
However,  the  Owl  did  not  seem 
aggressive,  and  only  seemed  as  if  it 
were  waiting  for  further  orders.  The 
Princess  determined  to  see  if  it  would 
come  when  it  was  called,  like  a  dog. 
So  she  called  in  a  sweet,  persuasive 
'voice  : 

'  Come  here,  good  Owl.' 

Immediately  the  dark  shape  of  the 
Owl  flitted  noiselessly  to  her  side  as 
she  sat  on  the  bed.  The  wind  of  its 
flight  blew  out  the  flickering  night-light 
in  spite  of  the  glass  shade.  But  the 
guttering  eyes  of  the  Owl  lit  up  the 
whole  room,  so  that  there  was  no  need 
of  light.  As  it  alighted  on  the  bed  it 
turned  its  eyes  on  the  Princess  as 
much  as  to  say,  'What  shall  I  do 
now?' 

But  the  fierce  light  of  the  eyes  was 
softened  as  it  turned  to  her,  as  if  the 


THE  BROWN  OWL  15 

Owl  feared  to  hurt  her  with  the  blind- 
ing rays. 

'  Cherished  Owl,'  said  the  Princess, 
*  why  didst  thou  hurt  the  physician  ?  * 

The  Owl  shook  his  head ;  but  the 
Princess  could  not  understand  whether 
he  meant  that  he  did  not  know  why 
he  had  hurt  him,  or  if  he  meant  he 
had  not  hurt  him.  So  the  Princess 
told  one  of  the  ladies-in-waiting  to 
remove  the  umbrella  from  over  the 
doctor.  But  this  was  not  so  easy  as 
it  sounded,  for  the  doctor  held  firmly 
on  to  the  handle,  and  in  spite  of  the 
united  efforts  of  the  three  ladies-in- 
waiting  he  managed  to  hold  on.  At 
last  the  Princess  lost  patience. 

*  Go  and  help  them,  good  Owl,'  she 
said  J  and  the  Owl,  overjoyed,  flew  to 
the  doctor,  and  seizing  the  top  of  the 
umbrella  flew  with  it  up  to  the  ceiling, 
and  as  the  doctor  still  held  on,  he 
flew  round  and  round,  until  the  doctor, 
hitting  the  top  of  a  cupboard,  let  go, 
and  fell  in  a  heap  in  the  middle    of 


i6  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  floor,  where  he  lay  half  unconscious, 
repeating  as  he  sat : 

'Orange  juice  for  influenza;  try  a 
seidlitz  powder  and  a  blue  pill,  and 
keep  the  owls  out  of  the  room  and 
take  a  warm  bath,  and — send  for  the 
Lifeguards.' 

But  the  Princess  did  not  seem 
inclined  to  send  for  them ;  and  in 
truth  it  would  have  been  rather 
awkward  for  the  horses  to  get  in,  as 
the  room  was  on  the  second  floor. 

So  the  Princess  told  the  ladies-in- 
waiting  to  drag  him  out  of  the  room, 
and  they  obeyed;  but  as  he  went 
he  said :  *  Sleeping  in  unaired  sheets 
causes  rheumatism,  sciatica,  pleurisy, 
pneumonia  and — owls ; '  and  as  the 
door  closed  they  heard  him  say, 
*  Gregory  powder  and  Epsom  salts.' 

The  poor  Princess,  however,  began 
to  weep  again,  and  the  Owl  sat 
perched  on  the  bed -post  at  her  feet, 
watching  her  with  his  bright  eyes. 

However,  after  she  had  cried  thus 


THE  BROWN  OWL  17 

for  a  long  time,  she  thought  it  would 
be  better  to  stop  her  tears,  for  they 
were  all  in  vain,  as  she  knew  but  too 
well. 

So  she  rose  from  her  bed ;  for  you 
must  know  she  had  only  been  laid  on 
her  bed  when  she  had  fainted,  and  so 
she  still  had  all  her  clothes  on. 

Through  the  window  -  blinds  the 
light  of  dawn  was  already  beginning  to 
show  itself.  So  the  Princess  went  to 
the  window  and  drew  back  the  curtains, 
and  let  the  bright  sunlight  shine  into 
the  room.  A  beautiful  day  was  dawn- 
ing after  the  last  night's  rain,  and  the 
sun  was  rising  brightly  over  the  edge 
of  the  blue  sea.  For  a  moment,  as 
she  looked  out,  everything  was  quiet 
except  the  shrill  chirp  of  a  solitary 
sparrow  that  seemed  to  have  awakened 
too  early.  From  the  chimneys  of  the 
red-roofed  town  below  her  no  smoke 
was  rising,  for  all  in  the  town  were 
asleep  still. 

Suddenly,  with  a  rush,  the  morning 
c 


i8  THE  BROWN  OWL 

breeze  came  from  over  the  land  behind 
her,  and  with  the  rustle  of  the  wind 
everything  seemed  to  wake  and  come 
to  Hfe  once  more.  The  solitary  chirp 
of  the  sparrow  was  drowned  in  the 
flood  of  song  that  poured  forth  from 
the  trees  in  the  palace  garden,  and 
with  the  birds  the  rest  of  the  living 
animals  awoke,  and  from  far  inland 
the  lowing  of  the  cows  was  borne  on 
the  breeze,  and  now  and  again  came 
the  joyful  bark  of  the  shepherd's  dog 
as  it  recognised  its  master's  whistle  as 
he  called  it  to  work  again  among  the 
sheep,  whose  plaintive  bleating  came 
softly,  as  if  from  a  distance,  to  the 
Princess's  ear. 

Everything  seemed  joyful  at  the 
sight  of  the  beautiful  morning  except 
the  Princess,  and  she  felt  oh  so  lonely, 
for  it  seemed  as  if  her  only  friend  had 
gone  from  her  for  ever.  And  at  the 
thought  her  tears  began  to  flow  afresh, 
for  she  felt  very  lonely,  while  every- 
thing else  seemed  to  rejoice.     But  as 


THE  BROWN  OWL  19 

she  leant  thus  against  the  window-sill, 
with  a  great  lump  in  her  throat  and 
the  hot  tears  in  her  eyes,  she  suddenly 
felt  a  weight  on  her  shoulder  and  a 
rushing  wind  waved  her  hair,  and  as 
she  turned  her  head  to  see  what  it 
was,  her  face  was  covered  in  the  soft 
brown  feathers  of  the  Owl,  who  had 
perched  on  her  shoulder. 

The  touch  of  the  Owl  seemed  to 
have  driven  away  her  grief,  and  she 
felt  quite  light  and  joyful  in  the 
beautiful  sunshine.  For  it  seemed  as 
if  the  Owl  had  become  a  companion 
to  her  that  would  take  the  place  of 
her  father;  so  she  leaned  her  head 
against  the  Owl,  and  her  golden  hair 
mixed  with  the  dusky  brown  feathers, 
till  each  streak  of  golden  hair  shone 
again  in  the  bright  sunlight.  And  the 
Owl  too  seemed  very  happy.  So  for  a 
time  the  Princess  stood  looking  over 
the  deep-blue  sea. 

Suddenly,  however,  a  footstep 
sounded  in  the  courtyard  below,  and 


20  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  Princess  drew  back  from  the 
window,  for  a  thought  suddenly  came 
into  her  head : 

'Oh  dear,'  she  said,  'I  have  been 
crying  such  a  lot  that  my  eyes  must 
be  quite  red,  and  my  hair  is  all  ruffled. 
This  will  never  do.'  And  as  she 
looked  in  the  glass  she  said,  '  Ah,  just 
as  I  thought.  Come,  my  cherished 
Owl,  sit  there  on  the  crown  on  the  top 
of  the  looking-glass  frame  and  wait 
while  I  wash  my  hands  and  face  and 
make  myself  tidy.' 

The  Owl  did  as  he  was  told,  and  the 
Princess  began  to  wash  in  cold  water — 
a  thing  she  had  never  done  before — 
but  she  did  not  like  to  call  to  her 
ladies-in-waiting,  lest  they  should  see 
how  red  her  eyes  were.  So  she  had 
to  put  up  with  the  cold  water,  and  very 
pleasant  she  found  it,  for  it  cleared  the 
tear-mist  out  of  her  eyes  and  made 
her  feel  quite  happy  and  cheerful 
again:  'And  I  have  heard,'  she 
thought  to   herself,   'that  washing  in 


S&'ZS 


THE  BROWN  OWL  ai 

cold  water  is  matchless  for  the  com- 
plexion.' 

When  she  had  finished  washing  she 
went  and  combed  her  hair  before  the 
glass.  For  she  was  a  very  artistic 
Princess,  and  liked  looking  at  beautiful 
things,  and  so  she  liked  sometimes  to 
look  at  herself  in  the  glass.  Not  that 
she  was  in  the  least  conceited 

So  she  combed  her  hair  with  a  gold 
comb,  and  when  she  had  finished 
combing  it,  she  put  on  her  gold  circlet 
as  a  sign  of  her  rank,  and  then  she 
said  to  the  Owl,  who  had  been  sitting 
patiently  on  the  looking-glass  blinking 
at  her  as  if  he  quite  enjoyed  himself : 

'Now,  cherished  Owl,  you  may  sit 
on  my  shoulder  again.' 

AVhen  the  Owl  was  again  in  his 
place  he  blinked  in  the  glass  at  his 
own  reflection  as  if  the  light  were  too 
strong  for  him,  and  he  shut  his  eyes 
and  drew  in  his  neck  and  lifted  up  one 
foot  into  his  feathers,  as  if  he  felt  quite 
happy  and  comfortable,  and  the  Prin- 


22  THE  BROWN  OWL 

cess  smiled  at  his  happy  look,  for  she 
seemed  quite  to  have  forgotten  her 
sorrow  in  the  company  of  the  Owl. 

So  she,  with  the  Owl  on  her  shoulder, 
went  to  the  window.  Here  in  the 
courtyard  already  a  large  crowd  had 
collected  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
Princess  if  possible,  so  that  it  fell 
about  that  when  they  saw  her  they 
raised  a  mighty  shout  of  joy  and  pity  : 

'The  King  is  dead,'  they  cried. 
*  Long  live  the  Queen  ! '  And  through- 
out the  city  far  and  wide  echoed  and 
re-echoed  the  cry  : 

'Long  live  the  Queen';  and  it 
seemed  as  if  the  waves  of  the  sea 
murmured  the  sound. 

The  Princess,  however,  held  out  her 
little  hand  to  still  the  tumult,  and  as  if 
by  magic  the  cries  stopped. 

'  Good  people  all,'  she  said  in  clear 
ringing  tones,  'I  thank  you  for  your 
good  wishes,  and  I  will  try  always  to 
be  worthy  of  them  as  my  father  was. 
For    to-day,    however,    rejoice    not; 


THE  BROWN  OWL  23 

remember  that  the  great  King  Inta- 
fernes,  the  founder  of  the  kingdom  to 
which  we  all  belong,  has  but  just  left 
the  earth — sorrow  for  him  but  a  short 
time ;  joy  will  come  soon  enough  for 
all.' 

So  the  crowd,  silent  and  pensive  for 
a  time,  dispersed  in  groups.  More 
than  one  of  them  asked  what  had  been 
perched  on  the  Princess's  shoulder, 
and  those  who  had  been  near  enough, 
said  that  it  was  an  owl — though  what 
it  meant  they  knew  not. 

'To  me  it  seemed  as  if  the  head  of 
the  old  King  were  looking  over  his 
daughter's  shoulder,'  said  one  of  the 
listeners  who  stood  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  crowd. 

But  she  was  only  a  little  hunchback, 
and  the  rich  citizens  laughed  at  her, 
saying  :  '  Tush,  child — thy  fancy  is  not 
sound  !  Or  else  before  looking  at  the 
Princess  thou  didst  look  at  the  fierce 
sun,  and  the  sun-spots  in  thy  eyes 
caused  thee  to  see   it  thus.     It  was 


24  THE  BROWN  OWL 

but  an  owl.'     But  the  little  hunchback 
held  to  her  own  opinion. 

But  while  the  Princess  stood  watch- 
ing them  depart,  a  tapping  came  at 
the  door,  and  the  Princess  cried  '  Come 
in.'  A  page  entered  and  said  that  the 
Chancellor,  Merrymineral,  was  below 
and  requested  audience  of  the  Princess. 

'  Let  him  be  shown  into  the  audience 
chamber  to  await  me  there.' 

The  page  bowed  and  departed  on 
his  errand,  and  the  Princess  went  to 
another  door  in  the  room  and  down 
the  staircase  that  led  from  it  to  the 
audience  chamber,  and  the  Owl  re- 
mained seated  on  her  shoulder  until 
they  reached  the  room.  When  they 
got  there  the  Chancellor  had  not  yet 
entered,  for  the  staircase  from  the 
Princess's  bedroom  to  the  audience 
chamber  was  much  shorter  than 
that  from  the  entrance  hall,  and  then 
you  see  the  Princess  was  much  more 
nimble  than  Merrymineral,  who  was  an 
old  man,  and  she  ran  quickly  down- 


THE  BROWN  OWL  25 

Stairs  whilst  he  walked  slowly  up. 
However  at  last  he  entered.  As  he 
came  in  the  Princess  said  : 

*  Good  morning,  dear  Merrymineral. 
How  is  it  you  are  so  late?  I  shall 
have  to  fine  you  if  you  keep  me 
waiting  like  this  again.  And  now 
what  do  you  want  with  me  ? ' 

The  good  Chancellor  received  her 
laughing  reproach  with  his  head  bowed 
down.  He  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  and 
drew  his  pocket-handkerchief  from  his 
pocket  and  applied  it  to  his  eyes.  As 
he  drew  it  away  the  tears  could  be 
seen  flowing  fast  down  his  withered 
cheeks. 

*  I  came,'  he  moaned,  *  to  console 
yoif  for  your  great  loss.  I  too,'  he 
continued  in  a  voice  choked  with  sobs, 
*  I  too  am  an  orphan.' 

It  seemed  funny  to  the  Princess  to 
see  him  weeping  thus,  and  she  could 
hardly  help  laughing  at  him,  but  her 
grief  soon  came  back. 

*Poor    Merrymineral,'    she    sighed, 


26  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*to  you  also  it  must  be  a  sad  blow, 
for  you  were  always  -faithful  and 
attached.  But  it  was  fated  to  happen 
thus,  and  you  must  really  try  and  be 
comforted,  for  crying  will  not  mend 
matters.' 

The  Chancellor  began  again  : 

*  The  beloved  King  your  father';  but 
his  sobs  choked  him,  and  he  hid  his 
face. 

*The  beloved  King  your  father,' 
echoed  a  loud  voice,  exactly  mimicking 
the  tones  of  the  Chancellor,  but  where 
the  voice  came  from  no  one  could  tell. 
The  Chancellor  started. 

*Did  you  say  that?'  said  the 
Princess. 

'Not  the  second  time,'  answered 
Merrymineral. 

'Who  could  it  be?'  said  the 
Princess  \  *  for  there  is  no  one  in  the 
room  except  the  cherished  Owl ;  and 
you  can't  speak,  can  you.  Owl  dear  ? ' 

The  Owl  shook  his  head  dismally. 
But  the  change  that  came  over  Merry- 


THE  BROWN  OWL  27 

mineral  was  most  astonishing  as  his 
eye  suddenly  lit  upon  the  Owl — for 
since  his  entrance  he  had  not  raised 
his  eyes  from  the  floor.  He  jumped 
backwards  over  three  rows  of  seats,  for 
you  see  the  seats  in  the  audience 
chamber  were  arranged  in  rows,  and  he 
alighted  in  a  sitting  posture  on  the 
other  side.  As  he  sat  on  the  floor  he 
looked  up  at  the  Owl  in  a  terrified 
manner,  then  threw  up  his  arms  and 
fainted.  The  poor  Princess  did  not 
know  what  to  do,  so  she  rang  a  bell 
that  stood  on  the  table  in  front  of  the 
throne.     Several  pages  at  once  came  in. 

'Just  bring  that  man  to,'  said  the 
Princess. 

The  pages  bowed  low,  and  went  and 
shook  the  Chancellor  violently.  He 
showed  no  signs  of  recovering,  so  one 
of  the  pages  turned  to  the  Princess 
and  said  : 

*  May  it  please  your  Majesty,  but  the 
Chancellor  refuses  to  come  to,  and  we 
can't  bring  him.' 


28  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*  So  he  refuses  to  obey  my  orders,' 
said  the  Princess.  'He  must  be 
punished  for  this.  However,  now  go 
and  get  a  bucketful  of  water  and 
pour  it  on  him.  Perhaps  that  will 
bring  him  to.' 

Now  when  she  said  he  was  to  be 
punished,  she  was  only  joking,  but  she 
said  it  very  gravely,  so  that  many 
people  might  have  thought  it  was  quite 
in  earnest.  Meanwhile  the  pages  de- 
parted to  fetch  the  water.  They  soon 
came  back  and  brought  a  large  pail- 
ful. 

'You  had  better  not  throw  it  all 
over  him,'  said  the  Princess  ;  '  just  let 
it  trickle  over  his  face  gently.' 

So  one  of  the  pages  began  to  do  as 
he  w^as  told,  but  somehow — either  he 
had  a  sudden  push,  or,  as  he  said  after- 
wards, the  Owl  looked  at  him,  and 
startled  him — he  let  the  pail  go,  and  all 
the  water  and  the  pail  too  fell  over  the 
unlucky  Chancellor.  This  really  did 
bring  him  very  much  to — much  too  much 


THE  BROWN  OWL  29 

to,  in  fact — for  he  sprang  up  in  such  a 
rage  that  the  Princess  really  wished 
herself  out  of  the  room. 

'You  jackanapes,'  he  screamed  at 
the  unfortunate  page ;  *  you  ape,  you 
boar,  you  cow,  you  clumsy  monkey, 
I'll  be  revenged  on  you.' 

But  the  Princess,  who  had  gained 
courage  while  he  was  screaming,  said : 

*You  will  not  be  revenged  on 
him.' 

*  But  I  shall,'  he  said. 

'Indeed  you  will  not,'  said  the 
Princess,  '  for  he  did  it  by  my  orders.' 

*  Oh  !  he  did  it  by  your  orders,'  said 
the  Chancellor ;  '  then  I'll  be  revenged 
on  you  too,'  and  he  began  to  move 
uncomfortably  near  to  the  Princess. 
But  the  three  pages  threw  themselves 
on  him  and  tried  to  drag  him  back, 
but  he  turned  suddenly  on  them. 

*  What,'  he  said  scornfully,  *  you  try 
to  stop  me — ye  frogs !  Ah !  a  good 
idea — by  virtue  of  my  magic  power  I 
command  you  to  turn  into  water-rats  ; 


30  THE  BRO  WN  0  WL 

then  perhaps  the  Owl  there  will  eat 
you  up.' 

No  sooner  said  than  done,  and  the 
three  pages  instantly  became  water-rats, 
squattering  in  the  water  that  was  still 
in  a  pool  on  the  floor. 

Somehow  the  Princess  did  not  seem 
to  be  at  all  frightened  at  this ;  she  was 
only  very  angry. 

'  I  thought  I  told  you  not  to  hurt 
those  pages.' 

'  Who  cares  what  you  say  ? ' 

'Dear  me,'  thought  the  Princess, 
'he  is  getting  excessively  insolent — I 
shall  have  to  be  severe  with  him  in  a 
moment.'     So  she  said  : 

'  Turn  those  pages  back  again.' 

'  I  shall  not.' 

'  Then  leave  the  room.' 

'I  shall  not.' 

The  Princess  did  not  know  what  to 
do;  he  was  really  very  rude,  and  he 
was  walking  towards  her  evidently 
intending  to  attack  her.  When  he 
was  w^ithin  ten  feet  of  her  he  stopped, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  31 

and  though  he  tried  to  get  nearer  he 
could  not. 

*  Ha  !  ha  ! '  he  cried ;  '  you  think  to 
keep  me  off  by  magic,  but  it  is  not  so 
easy,  I  can  tell  you.  By  virtue  of  my 
magic  power  I  command  you  to  turn 
into  a  mouse.' 

But  the  Princess,  leaning  her  head 
against  the  soft  feathers  of  the  Owl, 
only  smiled,  and  did  not  turn  into  a 
mouse  at  all. 

The  Chancellor  seemed  perplexed. 

*  Is  that  not  enough  for  you  ? '  he 
said ;  '  I  thought  I  told  you  to  turn 
into  a  mouse.' 

But  the  Princess  smiled  calmly  and 
said : 

'  Do  you  suppose  I  am  going  to 
do  anything  of  the  sort — you  have 
forgotten  your  manners  to  speak  to 
your  Queen  thus.  I  believe  there  is 
a  fine  of  five  shillings  for  any  one  who 
speaks  to  the  King  or  Queen  without 
saying  "  Your  Majesty."  You  had  better 
pay  it,  Sir  Chancellor,  and  turn  those 


32  THE  BROWN  OWL 

pages  back  again,  or  I  shall  have  you 
turned  out  of  the  kingdom.' 

But  the  Chancellor  laughed.  *  You 
can't  send  me  out  if  you  wanted  to. 
Meanwhile  I  shall  not  turn  those  rats 
back,  for  if  I  am  not  much  mistaken 
your  Owl  there  will  carry  them  off.' 

It  really  seemed  as  if  the  Owl  were 
going  to  obey  him,  for  greatly  to  the 
Princess's  surprise  it  sprang  off  her 
shoulder  and  seized  the  three  rats,  one 
in  each  claw,  and  one  in  its  beak — 
but  it  returned  at  once  to  her  and  laid 
them  squeaking  on  the  table  in  front 
of  her — but  no  sooner  did  they  touch 
the  table  than  they  turned  into  men 
again  just  as  quickly  as  they  had 
become  rats.  When  Merrymineral 
saw  this  he  became  perfectly  frantic, 
and  tried  in  vain  to  get  at  the  Princess 
— he  even  went  back  a  little  and  tried 
to  run  at  her — but  it  was  no  use,  for 
no  sooner  did  he  reach  a  certain  spot 
than  he  was  suddenly  stopped,  just  as 
if  he  had  run  against  a  wall.     At  last  he 


THE  BROWN  OWL  33 

became  so  frantic  that  the  Princess 
could  stand  it  no  longer.  So  she 
said  : 

'  Will  you  be  quiet,  you  naughty  old 
man  ? — leave  the  room  or  I  will  send 
for  the  police.' 

But  Merrymineral  answered  : 

*0h,  send  for  the  police  and  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  and  candlestick- 
makers.' 

So  the  Princess  rang  the  bell  that 
stood  on  the  table :  a  page  at  once 
appeared  at  the  door. 

*  Send  for  a  policeman  and  ask  him 
to  step  this  way.' 

The  page  looked  astonished,  but  he 
saluted  and  left  the  room.  Almost 
immediately  a  policeman  came  in — for 
you  see  there  was  one  always  on  the 
palace  steps.  He  entered  the  room 
with  a  low  bow. 

'Take  the  Chancellor  out  of  the 
room,*  said  the  Princess,  '  and  put  him 
in  prison  for  three  days.' 

But  the  policeman  shook  his  head. 

D 


34  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'Excuse  me,  mum — I  mean  your 
most  gracious  Majesty  —  but  it  is 
against  the  law  to  imprison  a  member 
of  Parliament,  much  less  a  chancellor. ' 

The  Chancellor  laughed  sarcastic- 
ally. 

*  Oh,  is  it  ? '  said  the  Princess; '  never 
mind,  take  him  into  custody ;  I  depose 
him — he  is  no  longer  Chancellor.' 

Merrymineral  looked  astonished, 
but  the  policeman  cleared  his  throat 
and  said  : 

'  Come,  I  say,  young  fellow;  will  you 
go  quietly,  or  shall  I  make  you  ?  * 

*0h,  make  me,  by  all  means,' 
answered  Merrymineral. 

So  the  policeman  advanced  and 
held  out  his  hand  to  take  him  by  the 
collar,  but  had  no  sooner  touched 
Merrymineral  than  he  fell  to  the 
ground  as  if  he  had  been  thunder- 
struck. 

The  Chancellor  smiled.  'I  told 
you  so,'  he  said. 

The  Princess  was  now  thoroughly 


THE  BROWN  OWL  35 

nonplussed.  However,  she  rang  the 
bell  again.     Again  the  page  appeared. 

*  Summon  the  Lords  of  the  Council ; 
let  them  come  here  at  once.' 

Almost  immediately  afterwards  the 
lords  appeared.  As  they  came  in  each 
one  bowed  profoundly  to  the  Princess. 
But  in  spite  of  their  grave  appearance 
they  could  not  help  looking  astonished 
at  the  policeman,  who  was  lying  on 
the  floor,  and  at  the  three  pages  who 
were  still  sitting  on  the  table — for  as 
they  had  not  yet  been  told  to  go  they 
could  not  depart. 

But  each  one  took  his  seat  without 
questioning.  Last  of  all  came  the 
Court  doctor,  who  looked  in  an  alarmed 
manner  at  the  Owl — nevertheless  he 
took  his  seat. 

When  all  was  quiet  the  Princess 
began  to  speak. 

'  My  lords,'  she  said,  '  I  have  been 
obliged  to  assemble  you  on  the  first 
day  of  my  reign ;  but  the  matter  is  a 
very   grave   one.      I    have   found    it 


36  THE  BROWN  OWL 

necessary  to  dismiss  the  Chancellor, 
for  these  reasons  :  first,  he  attacked 
these  three  pages  who  were  executing 
my  bidding ;  next,  he  attacked  me ;  and 
lastly,  he  attacked  the  law,  in  the 
person  of  the  policeman  there,  whom 
he  knocked  down.  Now  I  ask  your 
advice  as  to  how  I  am  to  get  rid  of 
him,  for  he  refuses  to  leave  the  room 
at  my  command.' 

So  spoke  the  Princess,  but  before  any 
one  could  answer  Merrymineral  spoke  : 

'  My  lords,'  he  said,  '  are  we,  we, 
the  lords  of  the  kingdom,  to  be  governed 
by  this  schoolgirl,  who  is  not  even  a 
magician  as  we  are  ?  What  good  has 
she  ever  done  us  ?  What  power  is  to 
keep  us  from  deposing  her  and  electing 

as  a  ruler  one  of  ourselves  ? ' but 

before  he  could  finish  a  perfect  uproar 
of  shouts  of  rage  interrupted  him. 

The  Princess  put  her  fingers  in  her 
ears  to  keep  out  the  sound,  and  when 
the  lords  saw  that  the  noise  was 
annoying   her   they  stopped  at   once. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  yj 

When  they  were  quiet  the  Princess 
spoke  again  : 

'  What  he  has  just  said  is  right,'  she 
said ;  '  I  have  no  right  to  reign  over 
you,  for  I  am  but  a  girl.  Do  ye  there- 
fore elect  a  ruler.' 

For  a  moment  all  was  silence  in  the 
Council,  but  all  eyes  were  turned  on  a 
lord  who  stood  next  to  Merrymineral 
in  rank.  He  was  a  portly  man,  and  a 
great  magician  too,  though  his  power 
was  not  quite  so  great  as  Merry- 
mineral's.  When  therefore  he  saw 
that  all  eyes  were  turned  on  him. 
Lord  Licec,  for  so  he  was  called, 
rose. 

'Your  most  gracious  Majesty,'  he 
began,  'although  you  had  no  need  to 
command  us  to  elect  a  ruler,  we  are 
of  course  bound  to  obey  your  com- 
mands, whatever  they  are.  I  therefore 
speak,  giving  my  vote,  and  I  believe  the 
vote  of  all  the  rest  of  the  assembly,  that 
you  shall  be  our  ruler  according  to  the 
oath  which  we  sware  to  your  father.' 


38  THE  BROWN  OWL 

And  then  turning  to  the  rest  of  the 
assembly  he  said : 

*Am  I  not  right,  my  lords?'  and 
with  one  voice  they  answered  : 

*  We  will  die  for  our  Queen  Ismara.' 

Only  one  voice  objected,  but  as 
that  was  Merrymineral,  no  one  noticed 
him. 

So  the  Princess  rose  and  thanked 
them  for  their  confidence  in  her, 
though,  to  tell  the  truth,  she  had 
known  all  along  what  they  would  say. 
That  done  she  said  : 

'And  now  what  are  we  to  do  about 
turning  this  man  out  ?  for  he  refuses  to 
go  of  his  own  accord.' 

No  one  could  suggest  anything 
better  than  to  send  for  the  Lifeguards 
and  let  them  carry  him  off.  But 
before  this  was  done  they  decided  to 
try  to  persuade  him  to  go.  But  it  was 
of  no  use,  for  he  stood  on  the  spot 
where  he  had  stopped,  with  his  arms 
folded  and  his  hat  on,  looking  down 
at  the  ground  in  a  brown  study,  and  he 


THE  BROWN  OWL  39 

took  no  notice  of  anything  they  could 
do,  even  though  they  rang  the  bell  close 
to  his  ear.  Now  he  did  no  particular 
harm  as  he  stood  there,  but  you  see 
no  one  could  tell  whom  he  might 
attack  next.  So  they  determined  to 
send  for  the  Lifeguards  as  a  last 
resource. 

So  they  were  sent  for,  and  in  a  short 
time  they  came,  although  they  left 
their  horses  outside  in  the  courtyard. 
Fifty  of  them  were  then  marched  into 
the  hall  and  they  were  ordered  to 
move  the  man  out.  So  they  divided 
into  two  parties  of  twenty -five  each, 
and  they  put  a  rope  round  him,  and 
each  body  of  twenty-five  took  an  end 
of  the  rope  and  pulled,  but  it  was  no 
good,  for  he  took  no  more  notice  of 
the  pulling  than  if  he  had  been  Samson 
or  any  other  strong  man.  So  the 
fifty  gave  up  the  attempt  in  despair ; 
the  only  thing  to  do  seemed  to  be 
to  cut  him  to  pieces.  So  they  drew 
their    swords    and    hacked    at    him, 


40  THE  BROWN  OWL 

but  it  was  no  use  :  the  swords  bent  or 
broke  just  as  if  they  had  been  bul- 
rushes or  paper,  and  still  Merrymineral 
took  no  notice  in  particular.  So  they 
gave  up  the  attempt  in  despair  when 
they  had  broken  up  all  their  swords. 
However,  they  did  not  give  in,  for  they 
called  in  the  best  horseman  in  the 
regiment  and  told  him  to  charge  on 
horseback  with  his  lance  in  rest.  So 
the  soldier  rode  in  on  his  horse ;  this 
was  not  so  difficult  as  it  may  seem,  for 
the  council  chamber  was  on  a  level 
with  the  ground,  and  a  lane  was  opened 
in  between  the  chairs  to  where  Merry- 
mineral  still  stood  with  his  arms  folded. 
At  the  word  of  command  the  soldier 
rode  at  full  speed  towards  Merry- 
mineral,  aiming  his  lance  at  the  centre 
of  his  face — that  is  his  nose.  His 
aim  was  true,  and  the  lance  hit  fair, 
but  it  might  just  as  well  have  been 
made  of  macaroni,  for  it  crumbled 
just  as  a  stick  of  that  delightful  eatable 
would  do  if  you  ran  it  against  a  wall. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  41 

The  horse,  however,  swerved  just  in 
time,  although  it  pushed  against  him 
in  going  by;  but  even  this  made  no 
difference  to  Merrymineral.  As  a  kst 
resource  they  suggested  putting  a 
lighted  match  under  his  nose.  Whether 
this  would  have  succeeded  or  not  I 
can't  say.  But  just  at  this  moment 
Merrymineral  seemed  to  wake  up 
again. 

*  Ah,'  he  said,  *  I  see  you  have  not 
yet  managed  to  get  me  out  of  the 
room.  However,  as  your  soldiers 
have  been  practising  on  me  for  some 
time  past,  I  think  it  only  right  that  I 
should  try  my  hand  on  them  a  little. 
I  used  to  be  thought  rather  strong  in 
the  arms  at  one  time,  and  I  have  cut 
down  a  good  many  trees  in  my  time. 
Just  see  how  you  Hke  that,'  he  said  to 
the  man  on  the  horse  as  he  swung  his 
umbrella  round  his  head  and  brought 
it  down  with  a  tremendous  thwack  on 
the  horse's  side.  In  fact  he  hit  so 
hard  that  the   horse   and    man   were 


42  THE  BROWN  OWL 

knocked  right  through  the  window  into 
the  courtyard  below.  With  three  more 
blows  he  knocked  twenty  more  of  the 
men  through  the  same  window,  and  the 
rest  made  their  escape  as  fast  as  they 
could  by  the  door. 

'I  see  I  have  not  quite  forgotten 
how  to  clear  a  room  yet/  he  said, 
as  he  once  more  folded  his  arms  in 
the  same  attitude  and  relapsed  into 
silence. 

'  What  a7n  I  to  do  ? '  said,  the  poor 
Princess,  wringing  her  hands  and 
almost  crying  with  vexation. 

A  voice  came  from  the  far  end  of 
the  room,  and  every  one  turned  to 
see  who  it  might  be.  And  all  saw  it 
was  the  Court  physician  who  spoke. 
*If  I  might  be  allowed  to  make  a 
suggestion,'  he  said,  *  I  would  say  that 
the  best  thing  your  Majesty  could  do 
would  be  to  request  that  gentleman 
who  is  sitting  on  your  shoulder  to  turn 
him  out.  From  my  own  experience  I 
should  say  he  was  very  competent  to 


THE  BROWN  OWL  43 

perform  such  a  task.  And  if  I  might 
be  allowed  to  add  yet  another  sugges- 
tion it  would  be,  "to  be  well  shaken 
before  taken,"  as  they  say  in  prescrip- 
tions.' 

As  he  said  this  an  extraordinary 
change  came  over  Merrymineral.  He 
pressed  his  hat  on  'his  head,  put  his 
umbrella  under  his  arm,  and  began  to 
put  on  his  gloves  in  such  a  hurry  that 
he  mistook  the  left  for  the  right  hand. 
As  he  did  so  he  said : 

*  Do  you  know,  I  can't  stop  any 
longer ;  so  sorry,  but  I  have  an  engage- 
ment and  I  am  rather  in  a  hurry. 
Good -day.'  And  he  began  to  walk 
quickly  towards  the  door.  But  the 
Princess  had  already  whispered  to 
the  Owl,  '  Catch  him,  dear  Owl.' 

And  however  fast  he  went  the  Owl 
caught  him  up,  and  taking  him  by  the 
middle  of  his  coat-tails — and  I  am 
bound  to  say  some  of  his  skin  too — he 
shook  him  violently,  and  flew  round 
and    round   the   room    banging    him 


44  THE  BROWN  OWL 

violently  against  any  high  piece  of 
furniture  that  was  convenient. 

'0-o-o-h/  shrieked  the  wretched 
man,  'I  say,  do  you  know  you're 
tearing  my  best  coat,  and  your  beak 
is  awfully  sharp?  0-o-ouch,'  and  he 
filled  the  room  with  his  shrieks.  After 
they  had  continued  hke  that  for  some 
minutes  the  Princess  said  : 

*I  think  he  has  been  punished  enough 
now,  cherished  Owl,  so  let  him  down.' 

The  Owl  did  as  he  was  told,  not, 
however,  without  giving  him  a  sly 
tweak  with  his  bill  that  must  have  hurt 
him  a  good  deal. 

*I'll  be  revenged  on  you,'  roared 
Merrymineral ;  '  you've  spoilt  my  Sun- 
day coat,  and  I  shan't  be  able  to  afford 
another  for  I  don't  know  how  long. 
I'll  be  revenged  on  you.'  And  he 
took  out  a  red  pocket-handkerchief 
and  began  to  suage  the  blood  that  was 
coming  from  the  bite,  all  the  while 
abusing  the  Owl  and  the  Princess  and 
threatening  to  be  revenged. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  45 

*  You  had  better  be  quiet  and  go,' 
she  said. 

'  I  shall  not.' 

*0h,  very  well,'  she  answered, 
*  perhaps  you  would  like  to  try  the 
Owl  again.' 

At  the  same  time  the  Owl  gave  him 
such  a  look  from  its  gleaming  eyes 
that  he  turned  first  red  and  then  white 
with  fright.  He  made  a  dash  for  the 
window,  and  he  was  in  such  a  hurry 
that  he  left  his  umbrella  and  one  of 
his  gloves  behind  him. 

He  jumped  right  through  the  win- 
dow high  into  the  air,  and  as  soon  as 
he  got  outside,  strange  to  say,  he  began 
to  burn  furiously,  and  he  went  gradually 
up  into  the  sky  like  a  fire-balloon — just 
as  when  a  piece  of  tissue  paper  is  put 
on  the  fire,  if  you  are  not  careful,  it 
will  fly  blazing  up  the  chimney. 

They  watched  him  out  of  sight,  and 
then  the  Princess  said  with  a  little  sigh 
of  relief : 

'  That's  an  end  of  him  at  last.' 


46  THE  BROWN  OWL 

But  the  Owl  shook  his  head — he 
knew  better. 

When  he  was  thus  at  last  got  rid  off 
the  Princess  said  to  the  physician : 

*How  can  we  ever  thank  thee 
enough,  good  doctor,  for  thy  timely 
suggestion ! ' 

'  Oh,  your  Majesty,'  said  the  blushing 
doctor,  'experience  does  it;  and  I 
had  plenty  of  that  this  morning.  Do 
you  know,  I  think  I  shall  never  be  free 
again  from  pain — although  I  have 
bathed  in  opodeldoc  and  arnica,  and 
I  am  clothed  from  head  to  foot  in 
Court  plaster.' 

The  Princess  smiled  and  said  : 

'  I  am  afraid  the  Owl  is  a  little  over- 
vigorous  in  such  matters;  however,  I 
will  give  orders  to  the  Court  apothe- 
cary to  supply  you  with  remedies  at 
my  expense  until  you  shall  be  cured.' 
She  then  said  to  the  three  pages  who 
still  sat  on  the  table : 

*  I  must  ask  you  to  depart  now  as 
Parliament  cannot  carry  on  business 


THE  BROWN  OWL  47 

with  Strangers  in  the  house.  How- 
ever, ye  are,  I  believe,  pages ;  I  will 
turn  over  a  new  leaf  and  will  advance 
you  each  a  step  in  rank.  Now,  how- 
ever, go.' 

Thanking  her  profusely  they  went. 
When  they  had  gone  the  Princess 
turned  to  the  Councillors  and  said : 

*  As  there  seems  no  further  need  to 
keep  you,  I  will  detain  you  no  longer.' 

Having  her  permission  the  Coun- 
cillors left  the  hall.  Last  of  all  was 
Lord  Licec,  and  he  remained  as  it 
hesitating  whether  to  go,  or  to  stay  and 
speak  to  the  Princess.  She,  noticing 
his  hesitation,  said : 

*Ah,  Lord  Licec,  hast  thou  some- 
thing to  ask  me  ? ' 

The  old  lord  made  answer : 

•*I  would  ask  your  Majesty's  per- 
mission to  enter  the  room  of  the  late 
King,  your  Majesty's  father,  for,  as  you 
are  aware,  it  is  against  the  law  to  enter 
the  royal  presence  without  the  royal 
permission.' 


48  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'  You  have  my  permission  of  course  ; 
but  ought  not  some  preparations  to  be 
made  for  the  funeral  ? ' 

Lord  Licec  answered : 

'They  are  already  made.  For  as 
the  late  King  had  announced  his 
intention  of  dying  yesterday  at  half- 
past  six  P.M.,  there  was  ample  time.' 

'Let  us  then  go  together  to  the 
room,  my  lord,'  said  the  Princess. 

So  they  went  together,  the  Princess 
leaning  on  Licec's  arm,  and  the  Owl 
sitting  on  her  shoulder. 

The  guards  of  the  room  saluted  as 
they  passed  in,  but  what  was  their 
astonishment  on  entering  to  find  that 
the  King  had  disappeared.  When  they 
asked  the  guards  who  had  come  into 
the  room  during  the  day,  they  replied 
that  no  one  had  been  near  the  room 
during  their  watch,  and  the  guards  of 
the  watch  before  said  exactly  the  same 
thing.  All  over  the  palace  inquiries 
were  made,  but  to  no  purpose,  and  the 
rumour  gradually  spread  to  the  town, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  49 

and  throngs  of  anxious  citizens  flocked 
about  the  palace  gates  to  ask,  but 
neither  they  nor  any  one  else  ever 
heard  what  had  become  of  him,  and  it 
is  my  opinion  that  the  King  himself  is 
the  only  person  who  knew  anything 
about  it.  It  came  out  in  the  course 
of  inquiries  that  when  the  attendants 
had  rushed  in  on  hearing  the  Princess's 
call  for  assistance  the  night  before, 
they  had  not  seen  the  King  on  the  bed, 
but  in  his  place  had  sat  an  enormous 
owl,  and  this  owl  had  insisted  on 
accompanying  the  Princess  wherever 
she  went. 

This  was  the  first  time  that  the 
Princess  had  heard  of  how  the  Owl 
had  come  to  her,  but  still  she  had 
known  all  along  that  the  Owl  was  the 
one  her  father  had  made  her  promise 
to  cherish.  But  there  were  ill-natured 
people  who  said  that  it  was  not  so 
very  unlikely  that  the  Owl  had  eaten 
the  King  up,  but  the  Princess  only 
laughed  and  said  : 


50  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*  How  could  the  Owl  eat  a  king  up 
when  the  poor  thing  has  so  little 
appetite  that  it  only  eats  very  small 
pieces  of  meat  off  my  golden  fork  at 
dinner  ? ' 

And  so  the  Owl  remained  with  the 
Princess :  during  the  day  it  always 
sat  on  her  shoulder,  or  took  short 
flights  round  her  head,  and  at  night  it 
slept  on  the  foot  of  her  bed. 

So  six  weeks  glided  peacefully  away, 
and  everything  prospered;  but  one 
day  a  terrified  messenger  rode  into  the 
city  at  full  speed,  and  the  message  that 
he  brought  was  this. 

Merrymineral,  who,  as  the  Owl  had 
said,  was  by  no  means  done  with,  had 
been  inciting  the  people  of  far-off 
lands  such  as  Mesopotamia  and  Padan- 
Aram  and  Ireland  to  rebel,  and  he 
was  now  marching  against  the  Princess 
at  the  head  of  an  immense  army, 
laying  waste  the  country  for  miles 
around.  At  the  rate  he  was  coming, 
however,  it  would  take  him  a  fortnight 


THE  BROWN  OWL  51 

to  get  near  the  country  round.  So 
you  see  there  was  no  immediate 
danger;  still  an  enemy's  army  could 
not  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
country  unopposed.  So  the  Princess 
gave  Lord  Licec  the  order  to  assemble 
the  army,  and,  as  you  may  imagine, 
it  was  an  immense  one  when  it  did 
assemble.  I  can't  say  how  large  it 
was,  but  if  you  could  have  stood  on  a 
hill  in  the  centre  of  the  town  you 
would  have  seen  nothing  for  miles 
around  but  shining  silk  banners  and 
glistening  helmets  and  lances.  Never 
before  had  the  world  held  such  an 
army,  and  it  never  will  again.  Yet  this 
army  even  was  hardly  as  large  as  that 
of  the  enemy.  The  command  of  the 
army  was  given  to  Lord  Licec,  for  he 
was  well  known  to  be  the  most  prudent 
man  in  the  kingdom. 

Three  days  passed  till  the  last  of 
the  army  had  started,  and  all  the  while 
the  Princess  stood  at  the  window  and 
watched  them  march  along  the  wind- 


52  THE  BROWN  OWL 

ing  street  below,  and  the  knights  and 
men-at-arms  were  inspired  with  fresh 
courage  at  the  sight  of  such  a  princess 
as  they  had  to  defend,  and  they 
cheered  so  loud  and  long  that  it 
seemed  like  the  continual  roar  of  the 
sea  beating  on  a  rocky  shore,  some- 
times rising,  sometimes  falling,  but 
always  sounding. 

The  Princess  indeed  felt  quite 
lonely  when  they  had  all  gone,  even 
though  their  shouts  did  make  her 
head  ache.  However,  she  consoled 
herself  by  riding  all  day  towards  the 
army,  and  returning  at  night  to  the 
lonely  town.  So  she  occupied  three 
days;  and  the  Owl  always  flew  over 
her  head,  protecting  her  from  the  sun 
when  it  was  too  hot,  or  else  sitting  on 
her  shoulder,  or  on  the  horse's  head, 
although  the  horse  did  not  like  it  at  all. 

For  three  days  no  news  came,  but 
on  the  fourth  as  the  Princess  was 
riding  out  with  her  ladies-in-waiting 
she  saw  at  a  great  distance  in  front  of 


THE  BROWN  OWL  53 

her  along  the  straight  white  road  a 
cloud  of  dust  that  was  coming  swiftly 
towards  her.  As  it  came  nearer  she 
could  see  the  glint  of  armour,  and 
soon  she  could  plainly  see  the  form 
of  an  armed  knight  galloping  at  full 
speed  towards  them.  He  came  so  fast 
that  they  had  to  rein  their  horses  to 
one  side  that  they  might  not  be  run 
down.  At  first  he  did  not  seem  to 
know  who  the  Princess  was,  or  perhaps 
he  was  going  so  furiously  that  he 
could  not  see;  at  any  rate  he  had 
almost  got  past  them  before  he  re- 
cognised her.  As  soon  as  he  did, 
however,  he  drew  up,  but  so  sudden 
was  the  action  that  the  horse  first 
sank  back  on  his  haunches,  and  then 
bounded  so  high  into  the  air  that 
the  marks  that  his  hoofs  made  when 
he  alighted  on  the  ground  again,  were 
a  foot  deep  in  the  hard  road  As 
soon  as  the  plunging  of  the  horse 
stopped  and  the  Princess  could  make 
herself  heard  she  said  : 


S4  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'What  news,  Sir  Knight,  from  the 
front,  that  thou  ridest  in  such  haste  ? 

*  But  bad  news,  I  fear,'  answered  the 
knight. 

'  What  say  you  ? '  said  the  Princess ; 
'  bad  news,  and  with  such  an  army  as 
ye  had?  has  some  fresh  rebelHon 
broken  out  among  the  men  ? ' 

'  No  rebeUion,  but  plain  fighting  has 
beaten  us — but  what  can  we  do 
against  such  foes  ?  This  Merrymineral, 
alone,  rides  on  a  green  dragon,  and 
with  one  stroke  of  his  sword  he  kills  a 
hundred  men.  Myself  I  charged  him 
with  my  lance,  but  as  it  struck  his 
shield  it  broke  in  pieces  as  if  it  had 
been  made  of  glass  •  and  it  was 
fortunate  for  me  that  my  horse  carried 
me  past  him  before  he  could  strike  me, 
for  I  saw  him  myself  cut  the  Knight  of 
Pendred  in  half,  as  you  would  cut  a 
radish.  And  if  we  slay  a  thousand 
men  during  the  day  he  restores  them 
in  the  night.  So  we  have  gradually 
been  driven  back,  till  after  three  days' 


THE  BROWN  OWL  55 

fighting  the  army  remains  at  Arecarp. 
Thence  I  started  at  eight  this  morn- 
ing to  hurry  the  reinforcements  from 
Britain  and  Gaul' 

*  Alas  !  they  are  still  at  three  days' 
march  from  here,  though  they  are 
marching  night  and  day.  But  thou 
saidst  the  army  was  at  Arecarp,  and 
that  thou  didst  start  to-day  at  eight  in 
the  morning.  That  is  impossible. 
Arecarp  is  twenty-four  hours'  journey 
for  a  fast  horse,  and  it  is  now  but 
twelve  o'clock.  Not  even  the  horse 
that  I  ride  could  go  faster  than  that, 
though  he  is  said  to  be  the  fastest  horse 
in  the  world,  except  Selim,  the  horse  of 
the  Prince  of  India.  However,  no 
time  is  to  be  lost  Sir  Knight,  will  you 
escort  these  ladies  back  to  the  town, 
and  rest  for  a  while  ? ' 

'But  what  will  you  do,  your 
Majesty  ? 

*  I  must  ride  forward  to  Are- 
carp.' 

*  To  Arecarp  !    Your  Majesty,  what 


S6  THE  BROWN  OWL 

will  you  do  there  ?  The  battlefield  is 
no  place  for  a  girl.' 

'Nevertheless  I  must  go,  for  my 
place  is  with  the  army.' 

'But  if  you  are  killed  what  will 
happen  to  your  people  without  their 
Queen  ? ' 

'What  do  they  do  now  without 
their  Queen?  Besides  once  before 
the  cherished  Owl  has  defeated  this 
man  and  he  may  do  it  again.  If  he 
does  not,  no  power  on  earth  could 
save  me  from  death,  for  the  army  is 
being  gradually  defeated.' 

'But  your  Majesty  could  send  the 
Owl  in  a  cage  against  the  enemy.' 

*  I  promised  my  father  never  to  go 
out  of  its  sight — no,  I  must  go.' 

'  I  beseech  you  then,  your  Majesty, 
to  allow  me  to  accompany  you,  for 
the  road  to  the  camp  is  full  of 
danger.' 

'  But  your  horse  is  tired,  and  even  if 
he  were  not  he  could  never  keep  up 
with  me.' 


THE  BROWN  OWL  57 

'But  if  you  will  excuse  the  con- 
tradiction, I  think  I  shall' 

'  Well  then,  have  your  own  way,  but 
mark  me,  if  you  lag  behind  I  shall  not 
stop.  However,  we  are  losing  time. 
Let  us  go.' 

And  they  set  off — the  Princess 
ignoring  the  entreaties  of  the  ladies 
that  she  should  not  go. 

The  Princess  immediately  started  at 
the  full  speed  of  her  horse,  expecting 
that  the  knight  would  soon  fall  behind  ; 
but  no,  he  galloped  at  her  side  as  if 
the  speed  were  not  more  than  usual, 
and  his  great  black  charger  seemed  to 
enjoy  the  exercise  as  though  he  had  not 
already  galloped  over  a  hundred  miles 
that  morning. 

The  Princess  could  not  understand 
how  it  was,  but  she  thought  he  would 
soon  get  tired  and  fall  behind,  but 
an  hour  passed  and  he  showed  no 
signs  of  being  fatigued.  So  she 
leant  over  her  horse  and  whispered 
softly  in  his  ear.     Instantly  the  horse 


58  THE  BROWN  OWL 

bounded  forward  more  swiftly  than 
ever — so  fast,  indeed,  that  she  could 
hardly  keep  her  eyes  open  against  the 
wind,  and  her  golden  crown  was 
suddenly  whisked  away,  and  her 
beautiful  golden  hair  streamed  far  out 
behind.  Still  the  knight  kept  up,  and 
seemed  not  the  least  distressed  at  the 
speed.  The  Owl  meanwhile  was  fly- 
ing far  overhead,  but  she  was  not  at  all 
surprised  at  his  keeping  up,  for  no- 
thing seemed  impossible  to  him.  After 
they  had  been  riding  thus  for  nearly 
two  hours  they  came  to  a  place  where 
the  path  was  crossed  by  a  river,  and 
here  the  Princess  thought  it  advisable 
to  stop  and  rest  a  moment  and  to  let 
the  horses  drink.  So  she  called  to 
the  knight  to  stop,  as  she  was  going 
to  get  off  for  a  moment,  and  he  at 
once  sprang  off  his  horse,  and  coming 
to  her  saddle-bow  held  her  stirrup  for 
her  to  dismount.  When  she  was  off 
she  leaned  against  a  tree  looking  at 
the  horses  as  they  drank  eagerly  from 


THE  BROWN  OWL  59 

the  river,  and  then  came  out  to  browse 
for  a  moment  on  the  bank.  Then  she 
went  to  where  the  knight's  horse  stood, 
and  patted  him  on  the  neck,  for  you  see 
he  was  not  a  very  fierce-looking  animal, 
and  she  was  not  at  all  afraid  of  him. 

*  He's  a  wonderfully  swift  horse.  Sir 
Knight,'  she  said  suddenly,  *and  I 
believe  there  is  no  other  horse  in  the 
world  as  swift — not  even  Selim — the 
horse  I  spoke  about — that  belongs  to 
the  Prince  of  India.' 

The  knight  nodded. 

*  He  is  a  good  horse,  but  he  is  no 
better  than  Selim,  your  Majesty,  for  I 
know  Selim  very  well.' 

All  this  while  he  had  kept  his  vizor 
down,  and  the  Princess  had  been  too 
polite  to  ask  him  to  raise  it,  even 
though  it  was  rather  rude  of  him  to 
keep  it  down.  So  she  could  not  tell 
who  he  was.  She  knew  all  the  knights 
of  her  own  kingdom  by  sight,  as  well  as 
most  of  her  allies,  for  you  must  know 
that  a  great  many  foreign  princes  had 


6o  THE  BROWN  OWL 

sent  her  troops  to  assist  her  against  the 
rebel.  She  looked  at  the  device  on 
his  shield ;  it  was  a  crowned  tiger,  but 
that  did  not  help  her,  for  she  did  not 
know  whose  crest  it  was.  So  at  last 
when  she  could  bear  her  curiosity  no 
longer,  she  determined  to  ask  him. 
So  she  said : 

'  Sir  Knight,  should  you  think  me  very 
rude  if  I  were  to  ask  you  whether  you 
are  under  a  vow  of  hiding  your  face  ? ' 

'  I  am  bound  by  no  such  vow ;  but 
why  do  you  ask,  your  Majesty  ? ' 

'  Because  ever  since  I  have  seen  you 
you  have  kept  your  vizor  down,  and  I 
thought  perhaps  it  was  on  account  of 
some  such  vow.' 

'  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon  a  thousand 
times,  your  Majesty,'  said  the  knight. 
'  But  I  did  not  remember  that  I  had 
let  it  down,  for  you  see  I  look  through 
its  bars  without  noticing  the  difference. 
But  I  hope  your  Majesty  will  pardon 
the  absent-mindedness,'  and  he  raised 
the  vizor,  at  the  same  time  bowing  low 


THE  BROWN  OWL  6i 

to  her.  But  it  was  now  the  Princess's 
turn  to  be  confused,  for  she  saw  before 
her  Sir  Alured  the  Emperor  of  India, 
a  prince  nearly  as  powerful  as  herself. 
She  blushed  with  shame  and  then  said : 

'  Oh,  Sir  Knight,  I  mean  your  Royal 
Highness,  it  is  I  who  should  crave 
your  pardon,  for  all  the  while  I  have 
addressed  you  as  "  Sir  Knight,"  instead 
of  as  "  your  Majesty."  But  I  am  very 
sorry.' 

But  Sir  Alured  said  : 

*Nay,  your  Majesty,  you  have  the 
right  to  call  me  what  you  will,  for  I 
am  always  your  humble  vassal.' 

*My  ally,  you  should  say,  your 
Majesty.' 

*  I  am  always  your  servant,  not  your 
ally,  your  Majesty.' 

*  Then  I  fear  you  will  soon  be  the 
vassal  of  a  queen  without  a  kingdom ; 
and  if  this  Merrymineral  prevail  over 
me,  I  fear  he  will  punish  you  for 
having  aided  me.' 

But  the  Prince  said : 


62  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*A11  is  not  yet  lost,  your  Majesty, 
and  whatever  happens  your  Majesty 
will  always  have  a  protector  while  I 
am  alive.' 

The  Princess  smiled. 

*  Ah  !  you  mean  the  cherished  Owl. 
You  will  always  protect  me,  won't  you, 
Owl  ? '  she  said,  looking  up  at  the  Owl 
who  was  seated  again  on  her  shoulder. 
And  the  Owl  nodded  his  head. 

She  looked  at  her  watch  just  then. 
'Why,'  she  said,  'we  have  been  here 
just  ten  minutes,  and  it  is  time  to  start 
again,  if  you  are  rested  sufficiently.' 

So  he  helped  her  to  mount,  and 
they  crossed  the  river.  It  was  not 
very  deep,  but  still  she  got  the  skirts 
of  her  dress  quite  wet,  for  the  water 
was  high  enough  for  that. 

However,  the  gallop  in  the  hot  sun 
on  the  other  side  soon  dried  them. 

In  an  hour  and  a  half  they  were  on 
the  top  of  a  hill  from  which  they  could 
see  the  town  of  Arecarp  in  the  valley 
beneath. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  63 

The  sun  was  shining  brightly  on  the 
tents  of  the  army  as  it  lay  round  the 
town,  and  at  some  distance  the  camp 
of  the  enemy  appeared.  But  still  all 
looked  peaceful 

The  Prince  gazed  carefully  at  the 
armies.     After  a  moment  he  said  : 

*  There  has  been  no  fighting  since  I 
left  the  city  this  morning,  nor  has  the 
position  altered  at  all.  I  fancy  Merry- 
mineral  has  sent  ambassadors  to  de- 
mand surrender  from  Lord  Licec' 

The  Princess  smiled. 

*  He  will  never  surrender,'  she  said. 

*  Nor  will  any  of  us,  your  Majesty,' 
added  the  Prince.  'However,  let  us 
descend  the  hill.' 

Down  the  hill  the  road  lay  through 
a  deep  gorge,  so  deep  that  the  sun  did 
not  penetrate  it,  and  it  lay  in  delicious 
shade.  The  sides  of  the  valley  were 
lined  with  the  silver- barked  birch, 
below  which  grew  nodding  foxgloves, 
and  as  they  went  slowly  down  the  steep 
path,  ever  and   anon  a  rabbit  would 


64  THE  BROWN  OWL 

scuttle  out  of  the  grassy  track  to  a  safe 
distance  in  front  of  them,  where  it  sat 
on  its  haunches  with  its  little  ears 
pricked  up,  smelling  at  them  anxiously 
as  they  came  near  again,  and  then  it 
would  scutter  along  into  the  thick  rank 
grass  to  its  home. 

So  they  went  slowly  down  the  path 
until  they  came  once  more  to  the  level 
ground,  and  they  were  again  able  to 
gallop  on. 

Soon  they  reached  the  town,  and 
clattered  through  the  cobbled  streets 
to  the  market-place,  where  Lord  Licec 
had  his  head  -  quarters.  But  the 
market-place  was  crowded  with  soldiers 
and  knights  who  were  bargaining  for 
food,  so  that  it  was  by  no  means  easy 
to  get  through  the  crowd.  How- 
ever, as  soon  as  they  got  near  the 
place,  the  soldiers  recognised  the 
Princess  and  began  to  cheer,  and 
immediately  an  avenue  was  formed 
up  to  the  door  of  the  council-house, 
and  the  Princess  rode  smiling  through 


THE  BROWN  OWL  65 

the  throng,  followed  by  the 
Prince. 

The  news  of  her  arrival  ran  through 
the  whole  camp,  and  immediately  such 
a  shout  went  up  from  the  men  that 
the  enemy  thought  they  were  preparing 
for  battle,  and  they  made  ready  to  resist 
the  attack.  At  the  door  of  the  council- 
hall  Lord  Licec  was  waiting  with  the 
rest  of  the  captains  of  renown,  and  they 
followed  the  Princess  upstairs  to  the 
council-chamber. 

As  soon  as  they  were  seated  the 
Princess  asked  for  the  latest  news. 
She  was  told  all  that  had  happened, 
and  when  she  had  heard  it  she 
dismissed  the  Lords  of  the  Council, 
all  except  Lord  Licec  and  the  Prince 
of  India,  who  were  to  stay  and  dine 
with  her,  and  she  gave  orders  that  the 
dinner  should  be  brought  as  soon  as 
possible,  for  to  tell  the  truth  she  felt 
rather  hungry,  as  she  had  had  nothing 
to  eat  since  breakfast-time. 

Now  when  the  Princess  had  finished 

F 


66  THE  BROWN  OWL 

giving  her  orders  about  the  dinner, 
Licec  could  not  refrain  from  asking  her 
why  she  had  come. 

*  Was  it  not  rather  foolish,'  he  said, 
*  to  hazard  your  life  for  nothing  ?  for  of 
a  truth  you  are ' 

But  the  Princess  put  her  finger  on 
his  mouth. 

*I  will  not  be  bullied  by  you,  my 
lord,  even  though  you  are  old  enough 
to  be  my  father.  I  know  what  you 
were  going  to  say — that  the  battlefield 
is  no  place  for  girls.  Now  I  won't  be 
called  a  girl,  for  I'm  nineteen,  you 
know.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  ot 
India  there  insulted  me  by  calling  me 
a  girl,  and  I  have  not  forgiven  him  yet. 
Besides  you'll  spoil  my  appetite  for 
dinner  if  you  lecture  me.  It  always 
does ;  so  do  be  quiet  now,  at  any  rate 
till  after  dinner.' 

So  Licec  had  to  be  quiet,  and  they 
talked  about  something  else  till  dinner- 
time. 

Just  as  they  had  finished,  a  frightful 


THE  BROWN  OWL  67 

shouting  outside  made  them  drop  their 
dessert  knives  and  run  to  the  window, 
but  as  the  window  did  not  face  on  to 
the  street  they  could  not  tell  what  was 
the  matter.  So  the  Princess  rang  the 
bell,  and  when  the  servant  appeared 
she  asked  him  what  was  the  cause  of 
the  shouting, 

'May  it  please  your  Majesty,  am- 
bassadors have  arrived  from  the  enemy 
and  would  speak  to  you.' 

*  Show  them  this  way  and  send  at 
the  same  time  for  the  Lords  of  the 
Council.' 

So  the  servant  went,  and  in  a  short 
time  a  heavy  stumping  was  heard  on 
the  stairs.  Suddenly  the  door  burst 
open  and  the  ambassadors  entered. 
They  were  a  rather  remarkable  pair 
of  ambassadors,  although  they  could 
hardly  be  said  to  pair  well.  For  the 
one  was  an  enormous  giant  with  a 
long  beard,  dressed  in  leaves  mostly, 
and  so  tall  that  he  could  not  stand  up- 
right in  the   room;    in  his  hand  he 


68  THE  BROWN  OWL 

carried  an  enormous  pole,  from  the 
end  of  which  a  spiked  ball  dangled. 
The  other,  however,  was  very  nearly 
his  opposite  in  everything.  For  he 
was  very  small,  a  dwarf  in  fact,  and  he 
was  dressed  in  very  tight  yellow  armour, 
and  from  the  top  of  his  helmet  a  crest 
of  red  roses  hung  down  to  his  saddle — 
for  you  must  know  he  had  insisted  on 
not  getting  off  his  horse,  or  rather  pony, 
for  that  too  was  very  small — in  fact  it 
just  fitted  the  dwarf 

As  soon  as  the  Princess  had  re- 
covered from  her  astonishment,  she 
rose  from  her  seat  and  said : 

'  Are  you  the  ambassadors  from  the 
rebel  Merrymineral?' 

The  dwarf  replied : 

'I  don't  know  anything  about  the 
rebel  part  of  the  business,  but  we  are 
the  ambassadors  from  Merrymineral, 
whom  we  are  bound  to  serve  for  a 
certain  time.  But  who  are  you,  I 
should  like  to  know,  and  what  right 
have  you  to  speak  to  me  in  this  in- 


THE  BROWN  OWL  69 

suiting  manner?  D'you  think  I'm 
here  to  be  insulted  by  you  ?  If  you 
think  so,  I'll  tell  you  point-blank  I'm 
not — so  there.'  And  in  the  rage  he 
had  worked  himself  into  he  began  to 
spur  his  steed  till  it  jumped  off  the 
floor  so  high  that  it  knocked  his 
head  against  the  ceiling. 

The  Princess  was  not  used  to  being 
treated  like  that.  However  she  was  not 
at  all  angry  at  it — she  only  laughed  at 
his  misfortune,  which  made  him  all  the 
more  outrageous. 

'  How  dare  you  laugh  at  me  ? '  he 
screamed ;  *  who  are  you,  you  minx, 
you  minx,  you  lynx — you ' 

But  the  Princess  did  not  listen  to 
him.  She  turned  to  the  giant,  who  at 
any  rate  was  quiet,  and  said  : 

*  Will  you  not  take  a  chair  until  the 
Lords  of  the  Council  arrive?' 

The  giant  looked  at  her  in  stupid 
astonishment. 

'What  shall  I  do  with  the  chair 
when  I've  taken  it?'  he  mumbled. 


70  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'  I  mean  you  to  sit  down  on  it,  of 
course,'  said  the  Princess. 

The  giant  growled  out  in  reply  : 

'  Well,  I  never  sat  on  a  chair  before, 
but  to  please  you  I  will.' 

So  he  sat  down,  but  as  he  was  not 
used  to  sitting  on  chairs  he  sat  down 
on  its  back ;  but  it  was  only  a  small 
cane-bottomed  chair,  and  as  he  was 
very  big,  and  the  chair  was  very  small, 
the  result  is  easily  foreseen,  for  the 
chair  collapsed  under  him  as  if  he 
had  sat  on  a  top-hat,  and  he  reclined 
comfortably  on  the  floor,  where  he 
remained  for  the  rest  of  the  time. 

'  I  think  I'll  stop  where  I  am,'  he 
said,  when  they  offered  him  a  wooden 
stool  to  sit  on,  *  for  you  see  I'm  not 
used  to  chairs.'  So  they  let  him  stop 
where  he  was. 

One  by  one  the"  Lords  of  the  Council 
began  to  arrive  \  they  looked  curiously 
at  the  ambassadors  but  said  nothing. 
When  they  were  all  arrived  the  Princess 
said  to  the  dwarf: 


THE  BROWN  OWL  71 

*  Now  if  you  will  state  your  message 
we  will  listen.' 

So  the  dwarf  snarled  in  a  bad- 
tempered  voice : 

*  I  shan't  tell  you — you  aren't  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  are 
you?' 

'No,  but  I  am  the  Queen  of  the 
Western  World.' 

*0h!  you're  the  Queen  of  the 
Western  World,  are  you?  Well,  you 
won't  be  Queen  of  the  Western  World 
long,  if  you  don't  mind  your  P's  and 
Q's.  The  king  Merrymineral  sent  me 
to  say  that  if  you  don't  marry  him  and 
make  him  king,  he'll  kill  the  lot  of 
you  and  make  himself  king  in  spite  of 
you — so  there ;  and  I'm  to  wait  for  an 
answer.' 

After  consulting  the  Council  for  a 
moment  the  Princess  said  : 

*0f  course  I  shan't  marry  him — 
how  could  he  be  so  ridiculous  as  to 
think  so  ? ' 

The  dwarf  laughed. 


72  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*  That's  your  answer,  is  it  ? '  he  said. 
'  I  thought  so.  I  say,  Gog,  have  you 
written  it  down  ? ' 

But  Gog  had  gone  to  sleep.  So 
the  dwarf  pricked  him  with  the  end  of 
his  lance. 

*  I  say,  Gog,'  he  said,  *  she's  given 
her  answer  and  you  haven't  written 
it  down,  and  I've  forgotten  it 
already.  Just  say  it  over  again. 
Queen,  will  you?  and  not  too  fast, 
or  Gog  here  will  never  get  it  down.' 

The  giant  now  drew  from  his  pocket 
a  very  soiled  and  crumpled  half-sheet 
of  a  copy-book  and  began  to  write 
from  the  Princess's  dictation. 

*  Of  course  I  should  not  do  anything 
so '     Here  he  stopped. 

'  How  do  you  spell  ^'  ridiculous  "  ? ' 
he  said. 

'With  two  "k's,"  of  course,'  said 
the  dwarf;  *  even  I  know  that,  though  I 
can't  write.' 

When  he  had  finished  he  handed  it 
to  the  Princess : 


THE  BROWN  OWL  73 

*  Just  sign  your  name,  will  you  ? ' 
The  Princess  signed  her  name,  but 

she  could  not  help  seeing  that  the 
writing  was  very  bad  and  the  speUing 
was  awful. 

'Why  didn't  they  send  some  one 
who  could  write  better  ?  Why !  that 
«  r  "  is  more  like  a  "  k  "  than  an  "  r  ".' 

But  the  giant  shook  his  head  mourn- 
fully. 

*  They  hadn't  got  any  one  else  in  the 
army  who  could  write  except  Merry- 
mineral,  and  he  was  afraid  to  come.' 

*  But  weren't  you  afraid  to  come  ? ' 
she  said. 

The  giant  shook  his  mace  round  so 
violently  that  it  grazed  the  helmet  of 
the  dwarf,  and  cut  his  crest  of  roses 
off. 

'  Whom  am  I  to  be  afraid  of? '  he 
growled.  *I  could  kill  your  whole 
army  single-handed ' ;  and  he  laughed 
loud  and  long. 

But  just  at  this  moment  the  Owl, 
that   had    been   siting    on   the   floor 


74  THE  BROWN  OWL 

behind  the  Princess's  chair,  flew  up  on 
to  her  shoulder,  and  no  sooner  did  the 
giant  see  the  Owl  than  he  jumped  up 
from  the  floor,  where  you  remember 
he  was  sitting,  and  he  was  in  such 
a  hurry  that  he  knocked  a  hole  in 
the  plaster  of  the  ceiling  with  his 
head. 

'  Come,  I  say,  you  know,'  he  said,  '  I 
can  fight  anything  in  reason — but  I'm 
not  going  to  tackle  that,  you  know; 
besides,  we're  ambassadors,  and  you 
can't  hurt  us.  I'm  going';  and  he 
rushed  out  of  the  room  as  fast  as  he 
could,  and  the  dwarf  followed  him  as 
fast  as  he  could  make  his  horse  gallop, 
and  they  never  stopped  till  they  reached 
the  camp  of  Merrymineral.  For  they 
were  very  frightened,  you  see. 

After  they  had  gone  the  Princess 
again  dismissed  the  Councillors,  and 
when  they  had  gone,  she  said  to  Lord 
Licec  and  the  Prince,  who  by  the  bye 
still  remained  : 

'  Now  let  us  finish  our  dessert' —  for 


THE  BROWN  OWL  75 

the  ambassadors  had  come  in  right  in 
the  middle  of  it. 

After  a  moment  the  Princess  said  : 
*How   absurd   of  him   to  think   I 
would    marry    him  —  why,    he's    old 
enough  to  be  my  great-grandfather.' 
But  suddenly  she  became  grave  : 
*But    perhaps    I    ought    to    have 
thought   before    I    gave   the   answer. 
Would  it  not  have  been  better  for  my 
people  if  I  had  consented  ?  for  then  he 
would  kill  no  more  of  them.' 

But  the  Prince  became  quite  angry 
at  such  an  idea.  'It's  absurd,'  he 
said.  '  Why,  as  soon  as  he  had  married 
you  and  become  king  he  would  murder 
you  and  then  kill  just  as  many  of  your 
people  as  he  will  now;  besides,  who 
knows  that  we  may  not  still  conquer 
him?' 

The  Princess  turned  to  Lord  Licec : 

'What  do  you  say,  my  lord? '  she  said. 

'  I  think  just  as  the  Prince  of  India 

— for  even  if  he  did  not  murder  you 

he  would  oppress  the  people  without 


76  THE  BROWN  OWL 

mercy,  and  besides,  your  people  would 
never  allow  you  to  marry  him,  so  that 
is  out  of  the  question.' 

The  Princess  gave  a  sigh  of  relief. 

'Since  you  say  so,  Lord  Licec,  it 
must  be  right;  besides,  I  don't  think 
I  could  ever  marry  him — he  is  such 
a  very  unpleasant  sort  of  man.' 

And  the  Prince  answered  : 

'  You  are  quite  right  there '  \  and  he 
seemed  quite  happy  again. 

Soon  after  it  became  evening,  and 
Lord  Licec  had  to  go  out  to  look  after 
his  army,  and  the  Prince  too  went  to 
see  that  his  men  were  all  prepared  for 
any  night  attack — for  his  men  were  right 
in  the  very  front  of  all,  and  so  they 
were  quite  close  to  the  enemy,  who 
might  at  any  time  begin  an  attack. 

So  the  Princess  was  left  all  alone 
with  the  Owl,  but  she  did  not  feel 
lonely  with  him,  for  he  was  very 
sociable,  and  would  do  anything  that 
he  was  told  to  do.  So  they  played 
hide-and-seek  till  it  was  too  dark  to 


THE  BROWN  OWL  77 

see  any  more,  and  then  she  went  to 
bed  and  slept  soundly  till  the  rays  of 
the  sun  falling  on  her  face  the  next 
morning  woke  her  up.  She  was  soon 
dressed,  and  when  she  had  finished 
she  went  into  the  next  room,  where 
she  found  Lord  Licec  already  awaiting 
her. 

*  What  does  your  Majesty  intend  to 
do  this  morning?  for  I  shall  not  be 
with' you,  as  I  am  going  to  order  the 
army  to  advance  to  the  attack,  and 
so  your  Majesty  had  better  stay  within 
the  town  for  the  rest  of  the  day.' 

'  Indeed,  I  shall  do  nothing  of  the 
sort,'  she  answered.  '  I  am  going  to 
lead  the  army  to-day  to  see  if  we 
cannot  regain  some  ground,  for  I  had 
rather  die  fighting  than  be  driven  back 
like  this,  so  please  don't  say  I  mustn't 
go ;  besides,  the  Owl  will  protect  me ; 
he  promised  to;  didn't  you,  Owl?' 
and  the  Owl  nodded. 

*  But  they  may  shoot  the  Owl  with 
their  arrows,  and  then ' 


78  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'But  the  Owl  before  now  has 
conquered  Merrymineral  himself,  and 
he  may  still  do  it.  Oh,  please  don't 
tell  me  not  to  go.  If  you'll  only  let 
me  go  I'll  promise  to  keep  near  the 
Prince  of  India,  and  he'll  protect  me, 
even  if  the  Owl  can't.' 

*  But  the  Prince  of  India  is  always 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  you 
will  be  in  much  greater  danger  if  you 
keep  near  him.' 

*  Oh,  never  mind  the  danger ;  do  let 
me  go.' 

And  she  begged  so  hard  that  Lord 
Licec  had  to  give  in.  She  put  on 
a  breastplate  and  a  sword,  but  she 
would  not  put  on  a  helmet,  for  she 
said  that  it  made  her  head  ache,  and 
that  no  one  would  know  who  she  was  if 
she  covered  her  face  up.  So  she  only 
wore  a  gold  circlet  on  her  head,  as 
she  usually  did,  and  besides  this  she 
carried  a  silver  shield  with  the  royal 
crest  on  it,  and  a  small  lance  just  hke 
a  knight's  spear,  only  not  so  heavy,  and 


THE  BROWN  OWL  79 

thus  mounted  on  her  white  horse  she 
rode  to  the  very  front  of  the  Hne  of 
battle,  and  there  she  found  the  Prince 
of  India  at  the  head  of  his  men. 

They  had  already  furled  their  tents 
and  were  quite  ready  to  begin  the 
battle  as  soon  as  the  others  were  ready. 

The  Prince  was  very  much  astonished 
when  he  saw  her,  for  it  was  the  last 
place  in  the  world  he  had  expected  to 
see  her  in. 

'Do  you  really  mean  to  say,*  he 
exclaimed,  *that  Lord  Licec  allowed 
you  to  come  out  to  the  field  of  battle  ? 
Why,  he  must  be  mad.' 

*0h  no,  he's  not,'  answered  the 
Princess ;  *  but  you  see  if  I  only  beg 
hard  enough  he'll  let  me  do  whatever 
I  like,  and  then  I  promised  to  keep 
near  you,  for  I  thought  you  would 
protect  me.  However,  you  don't 
seem  very  glad  to  see  me — perhaps 
you  think  I  shall  hinder  you — so  I'll 
go  and  ask  some  one  else  to  take  care 
of  me,  as  you  don't  seem  to  relish  the 


8o  THE  BROWN  OWL 

task.  Good-morning ' ;  and  she  began 
to  move  off  j  but  she  knew  very  well 
that  he  would  not  let  her  go  like  that, 
and  to  tell  the  truth  she  rather  hoped 
he  wouldn't,  for  she  thought  she  would 
like  him  to  take  care  of  her  better 
than  any  one  else  in  the  army.  Of 
course  he  did  stop  her  and  said . 

*  If  you  really  insist  on  stopping  on 
the  field  no  one  is  more  fit  to  take 
care  of  you  than  I.     So  do  stop.' 

And  she  allowed  herself  to  be 
persuaded  to  stop  with  him. 

Just  as  they  had  managed  to  arrange 
it  so,  a  trumpet  blew  in  the  direction  of 
the  town,  and  immediately  troops  of 
knights  and  men-at-arms  began  to 
pour  out  of  the  gates,  and  to  form  the 
line  of  battle,  and  as  each  band  of 
men  came  along  they  cheered  long 
and  loud  at  the  sight  of  the  Princess, 
and  the  Princess  felt  very  happy,  for 
she  liked  to  know  that  her  people 
loved  her.  Gradually  the  immense 
army   came    into    one    long   line    of 


THE  BROWN  OWL  8i 

glistening  steel,  and  again  the  trumpets 
sounded,  and  the  line  began  to  move 
forward  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  as  it 
runs  up  the  smooth  sand  sweeping  all 
before  it.  The  smooth  plain  which 
was  to  form  the  battlefield  was  dotted 
here  and  there  with  troops  of  cattle 
which  had  come  down  in  the  night 
from  the  hills  to  feed  on  the  long  sweet 
grass,  and  they  raised  their  heads  in 
astonishment  at  the  line  of  knights 
and  bowmen  that  marched  slowly 
down  on  them ;  so  they  shook  their 
heads  and  galloped  off  straight  in 
front  of  the  line,  with  their  tails  high 
in  the  air,  and  they  were  in  such 
blind  haste  that  they  charged  right 
through  the  lines  of  the  enemy  who 
were  now  approaching,  and  not  only 
through  them  they  went,  but  also 
through  their  camp,  tossing  the  tents 
into  the  air  with  their  horns  as  they 
went  by.  However,  at  last  they 
reached  the  hills,  and  did  not  disturb 
the  combatants  any  more. 

G 


82  THE  BROWN  OWL 

Meanwhile  the  armies  had  got  quite 
close  together — so  close  indeed  that 
they  could  see  each  other's  faces  quite 
plainly — but  they  did  not  seem  par- 
ticularly eager  to  fight  So  when 
they  had  got  thus  far  they  halted,  and 
looked  at  one  another. 

As  yet  Merrymineral  had  not  arrived, 
for  to  tell  the  truth  he  was  never  a 
very  early  riser,  and  he  did  not  see  why 
he  should  hurry  himself — for  you  see  he 
was  quite  sure  of  winning  the  battle 
without  much  trouble. 

Just  opposite  the  Princess  was  the 
flower  of  the  enemy,  and  she  recognised 
many  of  the  great  men  of  the  countries 
that  had  rebelled  with  Merrymineral. 
They  did  not  seem  particularly  happy 
where  they  were,  and  especially  when 
the  Princess  looked  at  them  they 
looked  very  red  and  uncomfortable,  as 
if  they  did  not  like  it  at  all. 

'I  do  believe  they're  ashamed  ot 
themselves,'  she  said  to  the  Prince; 
and  he  answered : 


THE  BROWN  OWL  83 

*  They  certainly  look  like  it/ 

'Do  you  think/  she  asked,  'if  I 
were  to  go  over  to  them  and  offer  to 
pardon  them  that  they  would  leave 
Merrymineral  and  come  on  my  side  ? ' 

The  Prince  thought  a  moment. 

*  I  believe  they  would/  he  said ;  *  only 
if  I  were  you  I  would  not  go,  I  should 
send  an  ambassador  or  a  herald/ 

But  the  Princess  shook  her  head. 

'That  would  never  do,'  she  said. 
'I'm  sure  they'd  be  offended  at  that. 
Why,  it  would  look  as  if  I  thought  they 
were  not  to  be  trusted,  and  besides 
they  would  not  hurt  me.  No,  I'll  go 
to  them  quite  alone,' 

But  the  Prince  said  : 

'  You  had  better  let  me  go  with  you, 
for  if  they  did  attack  you  it  would 
be  awkward ;  besides,  you  know  you 
promised  to  keep  near  me  all  the 
morning,  and  if  you  go  without  me  you 
will  not  be  keeping  your  promise,  don't 
you  see  ? ' 

So  the  Princess  said  : 


84  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*Well,  I  suppose  you're  right,  only 
you  must  come  alone.' 

And  as  he  agreed  to  this  they  went 
forward.  Her  own  army  evidently 
did  not  understand  what  she  meant 
to  do,  nor,  for  the  matter  of  that,  did 
the  enemy,  but  as  they  had  neither  of 
them  received  the  order  to  commence 
fighting  they  neither  of  them  advanced. 

So  the  Prince  and  Princess  advanced 
at  a  gentle  trot  until  they  were  quite 
close  to  the  others,  and  the  Owl  sat  on 
her  shoulder. 

When  they  were  quite  close  the 
knights  tried  to  get  one  behind  the 
other  just  as  if  they  had  done  some- 
thing they  ought  not  to  have  done, 
and  were  each  afraid  of  being  punished 
first. 

In  particular  the  Princess  noted  the 
giant  and  dwarf,  the  ambassadors  of 
the  evening  before ;  they  tried  to 
hide  themselves  behind  the  others 
altogether.  For  the  dwarf  this  was 
easy  enough,  but  for  the  poor  giant,  he 


THE  BROWN  OWL  85 

could  not  manage  it  at  all,  he  was  so 
very  big. 

However,  she  did  not  look  at  all 
angry,  and  she  only  said  : 

*  Good-morning,  my  lords/ 
And  they  replied  in  chorus  : 

*  Good-morning,  your  Majesty.* 
So  she  went  on  : 

'  I  have  come  to  ask  you  why  you 
have  assisted  my  rebellious  subject, 
and  what  grievance  you  have?  If 
there  is  any  I  will  try  to  redress  it.' 

One  of  the  nobles  replied  : 

*  We  have  no  grievances.' 

*  Then  why  have  you  fought  against 
me?' 

*  Because  we  could  not  help  it,  your 
Majesty.' 

'But  I  should  have  thought  you 
could  have  helped  fighting.' 

*I  mean,  your  Majesty,  that  Merry- 
mineral  threatened  to  kill  us  all  if  we 
did  not  fight.' 

'Then  you  were  not  very  brave. 
But  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 


86  THE  BROWN  OWL 

What  I  wish  to  know  is,  whether  you 
will  now  submit  to  me  again  ? ' 

'We  would  most  wiUingly;  only 
perhaps  your  Majesty  might  inflict 
some  punishment  on  us  for  our  mis- 
deeds.' 

But  the  Princess  shook  her  head. 

*No;  I  will  give  you  all  a  free 
pardon  if  you  return  to  your  allegiance.' 

So  the  nobles  gave  a  shout  of  joy, 
and  they  seemed  quite  happy  again. 
And  the  Princess  too  was  overjoyed; 
however,  she  ordered  them  to  go  each 
knight  to  his  own  men  and  to  tell 
them  what  had  happened,  and  to 
conduct  them  to  her  own  army. 

So  they  all  went  and  did  as  they 
were  told,  and  soon  the  whole  army  of 
Merrymineral  melted  away,  with  the 
exception  of  a  very  few,  and  these 
were  mostly  the  servants  of  Merry- 
mineral  himself,  and  of  the  giant  and 
the  dwarf,  who  still  remained  faithful 
to  him.  However  they  seemed  quite 
unhappy  about  it. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  87 

So  the  Princess  turned  to  them  and 
said : 

'And  you,  sirs,  will  you  not  also 
join  me  ? ' 

But  the  giant  shook  his  head,  and 
the  dwarf  said  snappishly  : 

*  Don't  you  know  we  can't  ? ' 
But  the  Princess  answered  : 

*  No  j  I  do  not  know  why  you  can't.' 
So  the  dwarf  snarled  : 

*  We're  bound  to  serve  him  for  a 
certain  time,  whether  we  like  it  or  not. 
I'm  the  King  of  the  Underground 
Gnomes — we  live  in  tunnels  under  the 
earth,  and  never  come  up  unless  we're 
obliged  to.' 

And  the  giant  said  : 

*rm  the  Spirit  of  the  Woods — 
that's  why  I'm  dressed  in  leaves  like 
this ;  and  I'm  the  King  of  the  Foresters, 
and  we  live  in  trees.' 

But  just  at  this  moment  a  frightful 
roar  came  from  the  camp  : 

'  Why  don't  you  begin  ? '  it  came. 

It   was   so   sudden    that    it    quite 


88  THE  BROWN  OWL 

startled   the   Princess,    but   the   giant 
shook  his  head  mournfully  : 

*  He  always  roars  like  that  when  he's 
in  a  temper.  He'll  be  coming  oulf  in 
a  moment,  and  won't  there  be  a  row  ? ' 

Just  then  the  voice  came  again. 
'  Bring  Popfelwuski  to  the  door.' 

*  Popfelwuski's  his  dragon  that  he 
rides  on,'  said  the  giant. 

And  then  some  servants  led  the 
dragon  to  the  door  of  one  of  the 
tents. 

It  was  a  most  marvellous -looking 
creature,  for  it  had  eyes  as  large  as 
tea-trays,  and  they  twinkled  awfully; 
and  it  was  golden-coloured  all  over, 
and  it  shone  so  brightly  in  the  sun 
that  it  made  the  Princess's  eyes  quite 
ache  to  look  at  it.  And  it  was 
growling  and  prancing  and  kicking  up 
the  dust,  and  making  more  fuss  than 
fifty  horses  could  have  done.  Just 
then  the  tent  opened  and  Merrymineral 
came  out.  He  looked  just  as  usual, 
and  had  not  any  armour  or  weapons 


THE  BROWN  OWL  89 

except  a  huge  battle-axe,  which  must 
have  weighed  nearly  a  ton,  but  he 
carried  it  with  the  greatest  ease, 
although  he  was  an  old  man — for  he 
was  over  eight  hundred  years  old.  He 
vaulted  on  to  his  dragon's  back  with 
very  great  ease,  and  putting  his  spurs 
to  its  golden  sides  made  it  gallop  at  a 
great  rate.  As  yet  he  had  not  seen 
what  had  happened  to  his  army,  for  he 
was  rather  short-sighted,  but  when  he 
had  got  within  a  few  yards  of  where 
it  ought  to  have  been,  he  suddenly 
stopped  as  if  he  were  bewildered,  but 
then  his  eye  fell  on  the  Princess  and 
he  roared  out : 

*0h,  it's  you,  is  it?  I'll  soon  do 
for  you,'  and  he  made  his  dragon  fly 
towards  the  Princess  at  a  very  great 
rate.  But  precisely  the  same  thing 
happened  now  as  had  happened  once 
before,  for  the  dragon  came  to  a 
sudden  stop  as  if  it  had  hit  against  a 
wall.  The  Prince  of  India  did  not 
understand  it  at  all. 


90  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*Had  we  not  better  retreat  and 
join  the  rest  of  the  army  ? '  he  said. 

But  the  Princess  answered  : 

'  Oh  no,  we're  quite  safe  here.  He 
won't  be  able  to  get  at  us.  Only 
you'd  better  come  a  little  closer  to  me, 
because  he  might  be  able  to  hit  you.' 

So  the  Prince  came  a  good  deal 
closer,  and  they  sat  watching  the  frantic 
efforts  of  Merrymineral  to  get  at  them, 
but  it  was  no  use.  Suddenly,  however, 
he  changed  his  mode  of  attack.  He 
made  his  dragon  fly  high  into  the  air — 
so  high  indeed  that  it  would  have  been 
invisible  if  its  golden  coat  had  not 
shone  brightly  in  the  sun.  It  was  quite 
unpleasant  to  look  at  him,  for  he  was 
so  high  up  that  it  made  them  feel 
dizzy  as  it  shone  out  against  the  sky, 
miles  high.  Suddenly,  however,  just 
as  it  was  directly  over  them,  it  seemed 
to  be  growing  larger. 

*  I  do  believe  he's  going  to  drop  on 
us  from  above ' ;  and  so  he  was.  The 
Prince  put  up  his  lance  that  the  dragon 


THE  BROWN  OWL  91 

might  be  spiked  on  it  as  it  fell.  But 
he  might  have  saved  himself  the 
trouble,  for  suddenly,  when  the  thing 
had  fallen  to  within  a  few  feet  of  their 
heads,  it  stopped  as  if  it  had  fallen  on 
to  the  roof  of  a  house,  and  then  it 
bounced  off  again  like  a  ball. 

But  the  Princess  had  shut  her  eyes, 
so  she  did  not  see  this ;  but  when  she 
opened  them  she  saw  the  dragon  and 
Merrymineral  lying  on  the  grass  in  a 
heap  where  they  had  fallen. 

But  he  was  soon  on  his  feet  again, 
and  again  he  tried  to  charge  at  the 
Princess;  but  it  was  no  use,  and  he 
only  tired  himself  At  last  the  Prin- 
cess began  to  get  tired  too,  so  she 
turned  to  the  Prince  and  said : 

*  I  think  we've  had  enough  of  this — 
don't  you  ? ' 

And  he  replied : 

*  Oh,  plenty ;  but  I  don't  see  how 
we're  to  get  rid  of  him,  unless  I  go 
out  and  fight  him.' 

But  the  Princess  answered : 


92  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'  Oh,  I  don't  think  you  need  do  that, 
although  it's  very  good  of  you  to  offer 
— but  you've  forgotten  all  about  the 
Owl.'  So  she  took  the  Owl  off  her 
shoulder,  and  putting  it  on  the  horse's 
head  with  its  face  to  her  she  asked  it : 

'You  can  drive  him  away,  can't 
you,  dear  Owl  ? ' 

And  the  Owl  nodded  gravely.  So 
the  Princess  said : 

'Then  I  wish  you  would — only 
don't  hurt  him;  only  drive  him  away.' 

As  she  said  this  a  wonderful  change 
came  over  the  Owl.  It  began  to  grow 
bigger  and  bigger,  until  it  quite  covered 
them  over  as  it  spread  its  wings  to 
fly.  Merrymineral  seemed  to  know 
what  was  coming,  for  he  drew  his 
steed's  reins  up  tight  and  examined 
his  stirrups  and  saddle.  And  then,  as 
the  Owl  flew  towards  him,  he  tried  to 
spur  the  golden  dragon  against  him; 
but  the  dragon  refused  to  move,  and 
at  last  it  turned  and  bolted  with  its  tail 
between  its  legs,  like  a  whipped  dog. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  93 

Merrymineral  tried  hard  to  stop  it, 
but  he  might  as  well  have  tried  to 
stop  a  mad  bull.  As  he  could  not 
stop,  and  the  Owl  was  catching  him 
up,  he  turned  in  his  saddle  and  hurled 
his  heavy  battle-axe  at  the  Owl ;  but 
the  Owl  caught  it  as  it  flew,  and  flung 
it  back  with  such  good  aim  and  force 
that  it  hit  the  dragon  on  the  back 
and  cut  it  clean  in  half,  so  that  it  fell 
from  under  Merrymineral  and  left  him 
standing  on  the  ground. 

But  when  he  saw  that  the  Owl  was 
quite  close  to  him,  a  wonder  happened 
— for  he  suddenly  caught  fire  at  his 
feet  and  shot  up  into  the  air  just  as 
you  may  have  seen  a  rocket  do,  and 
he  shot  right  away,  so  that  the  last 
they  saw  of  him  was  just  as  he  disap- 
peared over  the  mountains.  But  the 
Owl  flew  back  to  its  mistress  quite 
small  again,  and  it  perched  once  more 
on  her  shoulder  as  aflectionately  as 
ever.  As  to  the  golden  dragon,  it  had 
disappeared  altogether — and  the  funny 


94  THE  BROWN  OWL 

part  was  that  nothing  was  heard  of  it 
ever  after,  and  no  one  knew  how  it 
had  gone — so  that  the  only  thing  that 
remained  was  the  battle-axe,  and  that 
took  seven  men  to  lift  it.  However, 
the  main  thing  was  that  Merrymineral 
had  departed,  and  there  seemed  no 
likelihood  of  his  returning. 

So  you  may  imagine  how  great  the 
Princess's  joy  was. 

As  soon  as  he  had  quite  disappeared, 
she  said  : 

'That  really  does  seem  to  be  the 
last  of  him.' 

But  the  Prince  shook  his  head : 

'  You  never  know  when  that  sort  of 
man  will  turn  up  again;  and  in  the 
meantime  what  are  we  to  do  with  the 
giant  and  the  dwarf?  I  suppose  we 
had  better  attack  them  at  once  and 
get  rid  of  them.' 

'But  why?'  asked  the  Princess. 
'They  don't  seem  to  want  to  fight 
much,  and  why  should  we  attack  them  ? 
Let  us  go  and  ask  them  to  go  away 


THE  BROWN  OWL  95 

quietly,  and  I  should  think  they 
will' 

So  they  went  up  to  where  the  giant 
and  the  dwarf  and  their  forces  were 
standing. 

'  What  are  you  going  to  do  now  ? ' 
she  asked  of  them. 

*  I  don't  know/  answered  the  dwarf, 
and  the  giant  too  shook  his  head.  So 
the  Princess  said : 

*  Will  you  come  and  join  our  rejoic- 
ings ? ' 

But  the  dwarf  said  : 

*  No ;  I  must  be  going  back  to  my 
Kingdom,  or  I  don't  know  what  won't 
happen.' 

And  the  giant  said  : 

'  And  I'll  go  too,  or  they  might  rebel 
there  just  as  your  subjects  have  done.' 

So  he  said  good-day,  and  in  three 
minutes  he  had  disappeared.  The 
dwarf  too  said  good-day  quite  politely 
for  him,  and  then  he  struck  the 
ground  with  the  point  of  his  lance, 
and    immediately    the    earth   opened 


96  THE  BROWN  OWL 

before  him  and  he  marched  into  the 
opening  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
and  with  their  trumpets  blowing  and 
banners  waving  they  disappeared,  and 
the  Princess  never  saw  them  nor  their 
master  again^--and  to  tell  the  truth  she 
was  not  very  sorry.  But  the  Prince 
and  Princess  marched  back  to  the 
town  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and 
there  Lord  Licec  met  them  and  con- 
gratulated the  Princess  on  her  success, 
and  the  people  shouted  for  joy,  and 
the  bells  pealed  gladly. 

So  they  marched  through  the  town  to 
the  principal  city,  from  which  you  may 
remember  she  had  set  out  on  the  day 
before.  And  there  they  were  received 
with  even  greater  joy,  and  for  six 
days  there  was  feasting  and  rejoicing 
throughout  the  whole  land,  but  on 
the  seventh  day,  after  the  Princess  had 
rewarded  the  knights  who  had  fought 
the  best,  the  army  dispersed,  and  the 
town  quieted  down,  and  everything 
went  on  just  as  usual 


THE  BROWN  OWL  97 

Only  the  Prince  of  India  remained 
of  all  the  knights  who  had  fought. 
He  said  he  was  not  well,  and  wanted 
a  rest  before  he  set  out  for  India,  which 
was  a  long  way  off.  So  he  stopped 
and  rested,  and  the  winter  changed  to 
summer,  and  the  summer  to  autumn, 
and  he  was  still  there,  and  he  did  not 
seem  as  if  he  were  likely  to  go  either. 
The  time  slipped  away  quietly  enough, 
and  no  more  was  heard  of  Merry- 
mineral — not  even  a  word.  One  day 
when  the  Lords  of  the  Council  had 
finished  sitting  for  the  day,  and  were 
departing.  Lord  Licec  remained,  as  he 
always  did  when  he  had  anything 
private  to  say  to  the  Princess.  So 
she  said : 

'  Well,  my  lord,  what  is  it  that  you 
wish  to  tell  to  me  to-day  ? ' 

'  I  had  come,  your  Majesty,  to  make 
a  suggestion  to  you  that  it  would  be 
greatly  to  the  good  of  the  nation  if 
your  Majesty  would  condescend  to 
think  about  marrying  some  one.' 

H 


98  THE  BROWN  OWL 

The  Princess  was  so  startled  that 
she  quite  jumped : 

'  Marry  any  one  !  good  gracious  me, 
whom  am  I  to  marry  ?  I  don't  know 
any  one  that  I  like  at  all.' 

Lord  Licec  stroked  his  chin  ; 

^That  is  rather  a  drawback/  he 
said ;  '  but  I  had  thought  that  perhaps 
the  Prince  of  India  might ' 

But  the  Princess  interrupted  him  : 

'  Oh,  he  would  never  do ;  besides  he 
would  have  to  ask  me,  and  he  won't 
do  that.' 

But  it  might  have  been  noticed  that 
she  blushed  just  a  little  as  she  said  it, 
so  that  perhaps  she  was  not  quite 
sincere  in  what  she  said.  Lord 
Licec  did  not  notice  that,  so  he 
said : 

'Well,  if  he  won't  suit,  the  only 
thing  to  do  is  to  have  a  tournament, 
and  then  you  must  marry  the  winner.' 

But  she  did  not  seem  to  like  the 
idea  at  all. 

*  Suppose  the   winner   should   turn 


THE  BROWN  OWL  99 

out  a  hunchback,  or  a  cripple,  or  a 
very  hideous  man,'  she  said. 

*  Your  Majesty  might  arrange  it  so 
that  the  candidates  should  only  be 
allowed  to  tilt  if  they  were  sufficiently 
handsome.' 

She  agreed  to  the  suggestion. 

*I  suppose  it  is  the  only  thing  to 
do,'  she  said;  and  it  was  arranged 
that  in  four  weeks'  time  a  grand 
tournament  was  to  take  place  for  the 
hand  of  the  Princess  Ismara,  and  that 
all  the  handsome  knights  in  the  world 
could  come  if  they  liked. 

As  to  the  Owl,  when  he  was  asked 
if  he  liked  the  arrangement,  he  gravely 
nodded  his  head ;  so  the  Princess  felt 
quite  safe  in  her  choice,  and  the 
Prince  of  India  felt  contented  also,  for 
he  knew  he  had  a  very  good  chance 
of  winning,  unless  some  knight  of 
whom  he  had  never  heard  should 
suddenly  turn  up.  He  spent  the 
time  in  between  in  practising  for  the 
tournament,  and  he  ordered  a  new  set 


loo  THE  BROWN  OWL 

of  armour  to  be  sent  to  him  from 
India  in  time. 

So  every  one  seemed  pleased  with 
the  arrangement,  except,  perhaps,  the 
ugly  knights,  but  they  kept  quiet 
about  it. 

The  month  went  away  quietly, 
except  that  the  town  was  gradually 
fining  with  knights,  who  were  coming 
to  take  part  in  the  contest.  The  lists 
were  erected  on  a  plain  just  outside  the 
town-walls,  and  on  the  day  before  the 
tournament  the  free  seats  were  already 
filled  with  people,  who  had  come  there 
determined  to  get  places  even  if  they 
had  to  wait  all  day  long  and  had  to 
sleep  there  all  night.  As  you  may 
imagine,  the  Princess  did  not  get 
much  sleep  that  night,  for  she  was 
naturally  in  a  great  fever  of  excite- 
ment thinking  about  who  the  knight 
would  be.  One  thing  she  was  sure 
about,  and  that  was,  that  if  she  did 
not  like  him  she  would  not  have 
anything  to  do  with  him,  even  if  she 


THE  BRO  WN  O  WL  loi 

had  to  forfeit  her  kingdom.  However 
that  might  be,  she  did  not  sleep  that 
night,  and  on  the  morrow  she  felt 
quite  tired.  She  dressed  herself  in 
her  most  splendid  robes,  and  drove 
to  the  lists  in  a  little  basket-work 
pony  carriage  drawn  by  eight  little 
mouse  -  coloured  ponies.  It  was  a 
beautiful  day,  and  the  road  to  the 
lists  was  covered  with  people  who 
were  going  to  look  on,  or  to  take  part 
in  the  tournament,  and  as  she  went  by 
they  drew  up  their  horses  to  bow  to 
her,  for  she  had  specially  forbidden 
them  to  cheer  —  she  said  it  made 
her  head  ache.  So  she  drove  down 
the  hard,  white  road  bowing  and 
smiling  to  the  people,  and  they  smiled 
and  looked  glad  too,  for  they  were 
very  fond  of  their  Princess. 

After  she  had  gone  along  thus  for 
about  five  minutes  she  overtook  the 
Prince  of  India,  who  was  going  the 
same  way  on  his  famous  horse.  The 
Prince  did  not  seem  to  see  her — in  fact 


I02  THE  BROWN  OWL 

he  was  engaged  in  looking  very  hard 
at  his  spur  on  the  other  side. 

But  the  Princess  did  not  mean  to 
pass  him  like  that,  so  she  said  cheer- 
fully : 

'  Good  morning,  Prince.' 

He  looked  up  quite  astonished  : 

'  Good  morning,  your  Majesty  ! '  he 
said,  and  he  took  off  his  cap  and 
bowed  low  in  his  saddle,  for  you  see 
he  had  not  got  his  armour  on — he  had 
sent  it  on  with  his  page. 

The  Princess  did  not  know  exactly 
what  to  say  next,  so  for  a  moment  they 
were  silent,  and  the  Prince  trotted 
quietly  by  her  side.  At  last  she 
said :     . 

*  Are  you,  too,  going  to  look  on  at 
the  tournament  ? ' 

The  Prince  answered  : 

'  I  had  purposed  taking  part  in  it — 
that,  ahem ! — is  if  your  Majesty  thinks 
I  am  sufficiently  handsome,  and  if  you 
have  no  other  objection.' 

The  Princess  answered  quickly  : 


THE  BRO  WN  0  WL  103 

'  Oh,  no  objection  at  all.  I  should 
like  it  very  much — that  is,  if  you  are 
content  to  run  the  risk  of  your  life  for 
such  a  small  prize.' 

But  the  Prince  only  answered  : 

'  Oh,  your  Majesty ! '  and  her  Majesty 
flushed  a  little  at  his  reply. 

So  they  went  on  again  in  silence,  and 
the  road  began  to  get  fuller  and  fuller 
of  people,  and  the  Princess  had  her 
time  so  taken  up  by  managing  her 
ponies — for  she  was  driving  herself,  you 
know — that  she  could  not  say  much. 

However,  just  as  they  reached  the 
entry  she  said : 

'  By  the  bye,  what  seat  have  you  got?' 

*  I  believe  they've  given  me  a  seat 
over  on  the  south  side,'  he  answered. 

*  Dear  me,  how  careless  of  them.  Why, 
you'll  have  the  sun  in  your  face  all  the 
time  you're  not  tilting,  and  it  will  give 
you  such  a  headache.  You'd  better 
come  into  the  Royal  Box — they've  got 
an  awning  over  that,  and  you'll  be  able 
to  see  much  better.     Do  come.' 


104  THE  BROWN  OWL 

So  the  Prince  gave  his  horse  to  his 
page  and  went  with  the  Princess  and 
the  Owl — for  you  must  remember  that 
the  Owl  was  always  perched  on  her 
shoulder. 

The  lists  were  very  gay  with  horses, 
and  knights,  and  heralds^  and  many 
and  'great  were  the  knights  that  in- 
tended to  tilt.  They  had  come  from 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  world — from 
Kensington,  from  Nubia,  from — well, 
from  everywhere,  for  you  see  they  did 
not  get  the  chance  of  fighting  for  a 
princess  every  day.  So  you  may 
imagine  how  many  suitors  there  were. 
Nearly  a  thousand  came,  but  a  good 
many  of  them  were  not  considered 
handsome  enough,  so  they  Either  went 
away  in  a  tiff  or  else  they  stayed  to 
look  on.  Still  it  would  take  a  good 
three  days  before  the  last  man  had 
tilted. 

The  entrance  of  the  Princess  was 
the  signal  for  the  music  to  begin,  and 
the  procession  of  knights  filed  past. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  105 

each  one  bowing  to  the  Princess  and 
making  his  horse  perform  feats  of  skill. 
And  then  the  tournament  began  and 
the  knights  charged  each  other,  each 
in  their  turn.  The  way  they  managed 
it  was  for  each  knight  to  throw  lots  for 
the  order  of  their  fighting,  and  then 
they  were  to  be  divided  into  two  bodies 
— the  challengers  and  those  to  be 
challenged ;  and  as  it  came  to  the  turn 
of  each  challenger,  he  rode  out  and 
touched  the  shield  of  the  knight  on  the 
other  side  with  whom  he  wished  to  fight, 
and  then  the  victors  were  to  fight  it 
out  among  themselves  until  they  were 
all  finished  except  one. 

The  Prince  of  India  happened  to  be 
one  of  the  challengers,  and  his  turn 
did  not  come  until  the  afternoon.  So 
during  the  morning  he  sat  in  the  Royal 
Box  talking  to  the  Princess  or  to  the 
lords  and  maids  in  waiting. 

But  the  Princess  did  not  seem  to 
enjoy  the  gentle  and  joyous  passages 
of  arms  at  all,  for  you  see  she  was  very 


io6  THE  BROWN  OWL 

soft-hearted,  and  did  not  like  to  see  the 
knights  knocked  off  their  horses  so 
very  roughly.  So,  on  the  whole,  she 
was  not  nearly  so  gay  as  the  Prince, 
and  indeed,  she  seemed  very  unhappy 
when  he  went  to  put  on  his  panoply  as 
his  turn  came  near. 

However,  he  soon  afterwards  came 
into  the  lists  dressed  in  his  full  armour, 
and  you  may  be  sure  he  looked  very 
splendid,  mounted  on  his  black  horse — 
for  his  armour  was  entirely  of  silver, 
and  his  shield  shone  so  brightly  that  it 
hurt  one's  eyes  to  look  at  it,  and  his 
long  plumes  floated  in  the  wind  a  great 
many  yards  behind  him. 

The  spectators  cheered  him  very 
much  as  he  caracoled  from  one  end  of 
the  lists  to  the  other,  and  the  Princess 
quite  brightened  up  as  she  saw  him. 

'  I  wonder  whose  shield  he's  going 
to  touch?'  she  said  to  herself j  and 
when  she  saw  who  it  was  she  said : 

'  Good  gracious  me  !  he's  challenged 
the  Knight  of  Sarragos ;  why,  he's  the 


I 


THE  BROWN  OWL  107 

greatest  knight  in  the  world.  Oh 
dear,  I'm  sure  the  Prince  will  be 
beaten.* 

However,  the  knights  were  now 
going  each  to  his  own  station  at 
different  ends  of  the  lists.  The  horses 
seemed  quite  as  excited  as  the  knights, 
and  they  champed  their  bits  and 
foamed  and  pawed  up  the  ground, 
while  the  heralds  read  the  challenge 
from  the  Prince  of  India  to  the  Knight 
of  Sarragos. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  Princess  was 
right  about  the  strength  of  the  Knight, 
for  he  was  of  enormous  size,  and  he 
looked  a  veritable  pillar  of  steel  as  he 
sat  on  his  horse  listening  to  the  challenge. 
However,  the  trumpets  for  the  charge 
sounded,  and  away  went  the  knights 
straight  towards  each  other  like  arrows, 
each  one  looking  along  his  spear  to  see 
that  it  was  aimed  truly  for  his  adversary 
—covering  himself  well  with  his  shield. 
They  went  so  fast  that  they  could 
hardly  be  seen,  and  the  crash  when 


io8  THE  BROWN  OWL 

they  met  was  louder  than  the  loudest 
peal  of  thunder  you  ever  heard. 

The  Princess  shut  her  eyes  at  the 
sound.  But  she  could  not  keep  them 
shut,  for  the  people  were  cheering  very 
loudly.  So  she  opened  them  reluctantly, 
and  she  seemed  quite  glad  to  see  that 
the  Knight  of  Sarragos  had  been  thrown 
from  his  horse  by  the  shock  and  was 
rolling  in  the  dust.  It  was  rather  odd 
that  she  should  be  pleased  at  this, 
because  as  a  rule  she  was  sorry  for  the 
conquered  knight ;  for  myself  I  rather 
think  she  had  wanted  the  Prince  to 
win  all  along.  Anyhow  she  con- 
gratulated him  warmly  on  his  success 
when  he  came  back  to  his  seat,  and 
for  the  rest  of  the  day  she  did  not 
seem  much  interested  in  the  tilting 
although  some  of  it  was  very  good, 
too. 

So  the  first  two  days  passed  away 
and  nothing  particular  happened.  The 
Prince  of  India  took  his  turn  with  the 
rest,  till  at  last  the  third  day  came  and 


THE  BROWN  OWL  109 

there  were  only  ten  knights  left.  These, 
too,  the  Prince  overcame,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  all  was  over  and  he  had  gained  the 
prize ;  but  while  the  heralds  were  still 
calling  for  any  one  to  come  and  defeat 
the  Prince,  and  while  every  one  was 
holding  their  breath  in  expectation,  a 
loud  blast  from  a  trumpet  sounded 
through  the  air,  and  at  the  other  end 
of  the  lists  a  knight  appeared.  He 
was  a  very  tall  and  splendid-looking 
knight — for  his  armour  was  of  gold,  and 
the  crest  on  his  helmet -top  was  a 
dragon  carved  out  of  a  rose-red  ruby  of 
enormous  size;  and  the  point  of  his 
lance  was  made  of  one  diamond,  that 
sparkled  in  the  sun  a  great  deal  more 
brightly  than  any  dewdrop  on  a  spring 
morning.  And  as  to  handsome,  why 
he  was  a  perfect  blaze  of  handsome- 
ness, so  that  there  could  be  no  objection 
to  him.  The  only  thing  was,  no  one 
knew  who  he  was,  or  where  he  came 
from. 

So  the  Princess  beckoned  him  to 


110  THE  BROWN  OWL 

her,  and  he  came  and  bowed  low  in 
his  saddle. 

'Who  are  you,  Sir  Knight?'  she 
asked;  *and  where  do  you  come 
from  ? ' 

'  I  am  the  Knight  of  London,  your 
Majesty.' 

'  London,  London ;  where's  that  ? — 
I've  never  heard  of  it.' 

'London  is  the  capital  city  of 
England.' 

'But  where  is  England?'  she  asked. 

'  I  had  thought  that  every  one  had 
heard  of  England,'  he  said.  '  However, 
as  no  report  of  England  has  ever 
reached  your  ears,  I  will  tell  your 
Majesty.  The  British  Islands,  of 
which  England  is  one,  are  a  set 
of  small  islands  off  the  west  coast  of 
Europe.  They  are  composed  of 
England,  Scot ' 

But  here  the  Princess  interrupted 
him. 

'  I  thank  you,  Sir  Knight,  for  your 
information,  but  just  now  the  tourna- 


THE  BROWN  OWL  iii 

ment  is  waiting  for  you,  and  I  am  not 
very  fond  of  geography  lessons.' 

The  Knight  bowed  again,  and  retired 
to  take  up  his  place  in  the  lists. 

*  How  very  handsome  he  is !'  said  the 
Princess  to  one  of  her  maids  in  waiting. 

And  the  lady  answered  : 
'  Oh,  quite  too  handsome  ! ' 
However,    by   this    time   both   the 
knights  were  in  their  places,  and  the 
Princess  nodded  to  the  heralds  to  give 
the  signal 

*  Laissez  alkr!  they  cried,  which  is 
the  French  for  *  Go.' 

And  they  did  go  with  a  vengeance — 
they  went  so  fast  that  they  looked  all 
blurred  together  like  streaks  of  lightning. 
And  when  they  met,  it  was  louder 
than  thunder,  louder  than  the  shock  of 
avalanches,  louder  than — well,  louder 
than  everything  you  ever  heard,  except 
perhaps  when  some  one  lets  the  tea-tray 
fall  down  the  kitchen  stairs. 

And  when  the  dust  cleared  up,  the 
poor  Knight  of  India  was  rolling  on  the 


112  THE  BROWN  OWL 

ground  in  a  heap,  composed  of  himself 
and  his  horse.  But  the  Princess  did 
not  seem  very  sorry  for  him — so  wags 
the  world. 

The  Knight  of  London,  however,  was 
seated  in  his  saddle  as  firmly  as  if  he 
were  part  of  it ;  and  as  there  seemed 
nothing  else  to  do,  he  commanded  his 
heralds  to  challenge  any  one  who 
should  wish  to  dispute  his  right  to 
the  victory.  But  no  one  came  out, 
for  either  there  was  no  one  else  left,  or 
else  the  knights  were  afraid  to  enter  the 
lists  against  one  who  had  overthrown 
so  easily  so  doughty  a  knight  as  the 
Prince  of  India.  However  that  might 
be,  no  one  turned  up,  so  the  Knight 
of  London  was  declared  the  victor. 
The  shout  that  was  raised  at  this 
declaration  was  not  very  tremendous, 
for  most  of  the  people  liked  the  Prince 
of  India,  whereas  they  did  not  care 
much  for  the  new-comer.  But  he  did 
not  seem  to  mind  it  much,  and  he 
went  smilingly  to  the  Princess.     As  he 


THE  BROWN  OWL  113 

came  before  the  royal  presence  he 
made  his  horse  kneel,  and  advance 
kneeling,  till  he  was  quite  close. 

Then  he  said : 

'  As  no  one  appears  to  dispute  my 
right  I  believe  I  am  the  victor,  and 
in  virtue  of  that  right  I  claim  your 
Majesty's  hand.' 

But  the  Princess  laughed. 

'  Oh,  we'll  see  about  that  to-morrow ; 
there'll  be  plenty  of  time  then.  Mean- 
while, this  evening  we  are  going  to 
give  a  ball  at  the  palace,  to  which  all 
who  have  taken  part  in  the  tournament 
are  invited.  Of  course  you'll  come, 
won't  you  ? ' 

'  Of  course  I  will,  at  your  invitation, 
your  Majesty,  but ' 

WTiat  he  was  going  to  say  was 
drowned  in  an  immoderate  fit  of 
laughter,  which  came  from  the  Prince 
of  India. 

'  Ha !  ha  !  ha  ! '  he  laughed.  '  Can't 
you  see  who  it  is  you're  talking  too  ?' 
he  continued,  talking  to  the  Princess. 


114  THE  BROWN  OWL 

The  Princess  drew  herself  up. 

*  I  believe  I  am  talking  to  the 
Knight  of  London/  she  said  severely. 

'  The  Knight  of  London  !  why  he's 
no  more  the  Knight  of  London  than 
I  am.  Why,  your  Majesty  must  be 
blind  or  mad,  or  both,  not  to  see  who 
he  is.  Blind's  not  enough  to  express 
it.     You ' 

But  he  got  no  farther,  for  the 
Princess  called  for  the  police  to  arrest 
him,  but  before  they  could  get  at  him 
he  had  fainted;  for  the  spear  of  the 
Knight  of  London  had  gone  right 
through  his  side.  So  the  Princess 
told  the  police  to  lift  him  up  gently 
and  to  carry  him  to  his  house  in  the 
town. 

But  the  Knight  of  London  frowned  : 

'If  I  were  you,  your  Majesty,  I 
should  order  them  to  cut  his  head  off 
on  the  first  opportunity.  To  call  you 
mad  and  blind — why  I've  never  heard 
of  such  a  thing.' 

But  the  Princess  said  • 


THE  BROWN  OWL  115 

•  That  would  never  do.  ^Vhy,  he  is  an 
independent  prince,  and  if  I  hurt  him 
it  would  bring  on  a  war  with  India, 
and  goodness  knows  what  else.  How- 
ever, I'll  have  him  turned  out  of  the 
kingdom  as  soon  as  he  is  well  enough 
to  go.  However,  I  am  going  back  now. 
Mind  and  be  in  time  this  evening.' 

So  he  went  to  doff  his  armour,  and 
she  drove  home  once  more — this  time 
without  the  poor  Prince,  who  was  being 
carried  behind  in  an  ambulance  waggon. 
The  rest  of  the  day  passed  off  somehow, 
and  the  night  came  at  last,  as  nights  are 
in  the  habit  of  doing,  and  with  the  night 
came  knights — no  longer  dressed  in 
steel  armour,  but  gorgeous  in  velvet 
and  silk  and  evening  dress.  But,  how- 
ever gorgeous  and  fine  they  might  be, 
the  Knight  of  London  outstripped 
them  all,  in  dress,  manners,  looks,  and 
everything  else,  and  the  Princess  said 
he  had  the  best  step  of  any  one  she 
had  ever  known — and  she  ought  to 
know,  for  she  danced  with  him  a  great 


ii6  THE  BROWN  OWL 

many  times.  In  fact,  by  the  end  of 
the  ball  she  had  forgotten  all  about 
the  poor  Prince,  for  the  Knight  of 
London  was  a  most  enchanting  person 
— although  one  thing  did  seem  strange, 
and  that  was,  that  the  Knight  seemed 
positively  afraid  of  the  Owl;  and  at 
supper-time  he  actually  refused  to  sit 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  Princess 
because  the  Owl  was  sitting  on  her 
right  shoulder. 

But  the  Owl  took  no  notice  of  him 
at  all,  and  never  even  looked  at  him, 
so  she  thought  it  was  only  a  rather 
foolish  prejudice  on  his  part.  How- 
ever, the  ball  came  to  an  end  at  last, 
and  the  Princess  went  to  bed  and 
dreamt  pleasantly  of  some  one,  but 
it  was  not  the  Prince  this  time. 

And  the  Prince  lay  tossing  on  his 
bed  only  half  dreaming,  and  not 
pleasantly,  of  some  one,  and  it  was 
the  Princess.  As  for  the  Knight  oi 
London,  nobody  knows  what  he 
dreamt  about;  and,  to  tell  the  truth, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  117 

nobody  cared  But  the  Owl  sat  at 
the  head  of  the  Princess's  bed,  and 
slept  calmly,  —  he  did  not  dream  ; 
owls  are  not  in  the  habit  of  dreaming 
— they  are  a  good  deal  wiser. 

When  the  next  morning  came,  the 
Knight  of  London  came  with  it,  and 
he  wanted  to  know  when  the  Princess 
would  marry  him ;  but  the  Princess 
put  him  off — for  somehow,  although 
she  liked  him  very  much,  she  did 
not  altogether  relish  the  idea  ot 
marrying  so  soon.  So  she  told  him 
that  he  must  wait  until  the  Lords  of 
the  Council  had  given  their  consent, 
and  they  were  not  going  to  meet  till 
the  next  day,  so  he  would  have  to 
wait  till  then.  But  the  Knight  did 
not  like  this  at  all. 

*  At  all  events,  my  dear  Princess,'  he 
said,  'you  might  promise  to  marry 
me,  for,  after  all,  I  did  win  the  tourna- 
ment, you  see,  and  so ' 

But  the  Princess  put  her  hand  to 
her  chin  and  rubbed  it  softly  as  if  she 


ii8  THE  BROWN  OWL 

were  thinking  very  deeply — and  no 
doubt  she  was — and  shook  her  head 
emphatically. 

'No;  I  can't  promise  until  the 
Council  have  given  their  consent,  for 
you  see  that  would  be  unconstitutional, 
and  I  can't  be  that  even  for  you.' 

The  Knight  seemed  quite  angry. 

'Bother  the  unconstitutionality,'  he 
said ; '  what  does  the  stupid  old  Council 
want  to  blunder  into  such  matters  ? ' 

But  the  Princess  stopped  him  : 

'Oh,  you  mustn't  say  that — please 
don't  say  that,'  she  said;  'it's  not  a 
stupid  old  Council,  it's  a  very  nice  old 
Council,  and  it's  much  nicer  than  you  are. 
AVhen  you  get  angry  like  that  you're 
not  at  all  nice — so  just  be  quiet ;  now 
do.' 

And  he  had  to  be  quiet,  for  he  was 
afraid  of  making  her  really  angry. 

She  too  was  afraid  she  had  hurt 
his  feelings  by  telling  him  to  be  quiet. 
So  she  asked  him  to  join  the  hunt  that 
was  preparing  outside,  and  he  of  course 


THE  BROWN  OWL  119 

accepted  her  invitation,  for  you  see 
he  was  only  too  glad  to  make  it  up. 
They  rode  out  of  the  town,  and  soon 
a  deer  was  started,  and  the  chase  swept 
through  the  tall  trees  after  it  over  the 
thick  carpet  of  fallen  leaves  and 
between  the  trunks  of  the  beech-trees. 
As  a  rule  the  Princess's  horse  was 
swifter  than  any  of  the  deer  they 
started,  but  this  one  seemed  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule,  for  it  went  on  at  just 
the  rate  she  did,  keeping  always 
at  the  same  speed  whether  she  pulled 
her  horse  in  or  let  it  go  at  the 
top  of  its  speed.  The  Princess  was 
quite  annoyed  at  this.  Gradually  she 
passed  all  the  knights  and  huntsmen 
who  were  labouring  forward  at  full 
gallop,  and  then  she  came  up  with  the 
hoarse  -  tongued  hounds,  who  were 
running  steadily  along  with  their  noses 
close  to  the  ground.  And  then  she 
passed  them  too,  and  their  deep 
mouthing  sounded  behind,  and  gradu- 
ally the  shouts  of  the  huntsmen  and 


I20  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  cries  of  the  dogs  and  all  the  sounds 
of  the  chase  died  away  behind,  and 
still  the  deer  kept  steadily  forward. 
Just  at  this  time  she  noticed  the  heavy 
gallop  of  a  horse  behind  her,  and 
looking  round  she  saw  the  Knight  of 
London  cantering  easily  behind.  So 
she  slackened  her  speed  a  little  to  let 
him  come  up,  and  then  she  stopped  to 
let  the  rest  of  the  chase  come  up  with 
her ;  and  when  she  stopped  the  deer 
stopped  too,  and  nibbled  quietly  at  a 
flower  that  was  growing  at  the  foot  of 
a  tree. 

By  this  time  the  Knight  had  come 
up  with  her,  and  she  said  : 

*  So  here  you  are.  What  an  annoying 
thing  that  deer  is — I  can't  catch  it  up, 
do  whatever  I  may,  and  my  horse  used 
to  be  thought  the  fastest  in  the  world, 
except  one,'  she  added,  after  a. 
moment. 

'  That  is  strange,'  said  the  Knight. 
*  I  used  always  to  think  mine  the 
fastest  in  the  world,  and  indeed,  your 


THE  BROWN  OWL  lai 

Majesty,  I  think  it  is  quite  as  fast  as 
yours.' 

'  I  do  believe  it  is,'  she  said.  *  It's 
most  annoying  ;  every  second  person  I 
see  now  has  a  horse  as  fast  as  mine. 
However,  we'll  try  a  race  as  soon  as 
the  rest  have  caught  us  up.' 

Just  at  that  moment  a  hound's  bay 
came  from  close  behind  them,  and  the 
deer  started  off  again. 

*  There  it  goes,'  said  the  Princess ; 
and  again  she  started  off,  and  the 
Knight  kept  close  beside  her.  They 
went  faster  than  ever,  and  she  could 
hardly  breathe  because  of  the  wind, 
but  the  Knight  kept  steadily  by  her 
side,  and  would  not  be  out-distanced. 
Just  at  this  moment  she  happened  to 
look  upwards,  and  there  was  the  Owl 
sailing  quietly  along  just  over  her 
head,  flapping  his  wings  lazily  as  if 
there  were  no  need  for  exertion, 
although  they  were  going  at  such  a  rate 
that  the  Princess  could  hardly  keep  her 
eyes  open — ^just  as  when  you  put  your 


122  THE  BROWN  OWL 

head  out  of  the  window  of  a  railway 
train  that  is  going  pretty  fast — a  thing, 
by  the  bye,  that  it  is  to  be  hoped  you 
never  do,  or  you  might  get  your  nose 
chopped  off  against  a  post.  When  she 
looked  down  from  the  Owl,  to  her 
surprise  the  deer  had  vanished  al- 
together, and  although  she  rubbed  her 
eyes  she  could  not  see  it  anywhere; 
and  although  they  galloped  still  farther 
on,  no  deer  made  its  appearance,  and 
the  forest  had  become  dark  and  thick 
and  she  had  never  been  there  before. 
So  she  drew  her  horse  in  so  suddenly 
that  its  hoofs  threw  up  the  copper- 
coloured  beech-leaves  in  showers,  and 
the  Knight  shot  some  distance  in 
advance.  However,  he  turned  and 
came  back.  So  the  Princess  said  : 
'What  are  we  to  do  now?' 
*  Gk)  back,  I  suppose,'  he  answered. 
'But  I  don't  know  the  way,'  she 
said,  '  and  we  are  near  the  country  of 
the  Magi,  and  they're  the  most  fright- 
ful creatures,  who  would  tear  us  up  and 


THE  BROWN  OWL  123 

eat   us   if  they   knew  where  to   find 
us.' 

The  Knight  smiled : 

*  I  could  save  you  from  them,'  he 
said. 

But  the  Princess  said  reflectively  : 

'  I  don't  know  so  much  about  that, 
for  you  see  they're  very  strong — and 
how  dark  it's  getting  \  it  must  be  past 
five,  and  it  will  soon  be  night.' 

I  daresay  if  she  had  been  alone  she 
would  have  had  a  good  cry,  but  that 
wouldn't  do  before  strangers. 

It  was  still  getting  darker  and  she 
began  to  feel  very  uncomfortable,  for 
the  howl  of  a  wolf  came  down  on  the 
breeze,  and  a  squirrel  that  had  been 
searching  for  nuts  darted  home  to  its 
hole,  scuttling  along  as  fast  as  it  could. 

So  she  said : 

*  Come,  let  us  be  quick  and  get  away.' 

*  Promise  to  marry  me  first.' 
But  she  only  said  : 

'  Oh,  I'll  see  about  that  when  we're 
safe — so  do  come.' 


124  THE  BROWN  OWL 

What  the  Knight  would  have 
answered  was  never  known,  for  just 
then  the  Owl,  who  was  seated  on  her 
shoulder,  gave  a  mournful  '  Tu-whoo,' 
at  which  the  horse  of  the  Knight  jumped 
back  nearly  ten  feet  and  almost  threw 
him  with  the  unexpected  shock.  But 
before  she  could  do  anything  a  hunter 
burst  from  the  bushes  near  at  hand 
and  said : 

*  Hurry,  Princess,  hurry;  the  Magi 
have  heard  of  your  whereabouts,  and 
they  are  coming  at  full  speed  here. 
Come,  be  quick.' 

But  the  Princess  said  : 

*  But  what  will  you  do,  old  man  ?  for 
you  have  no  horse.* 

But  he  smiled  contemptuously. 

*  Horse !  I  don't  want  a  horse — why, 
I  can  run  as  well  as  any  deer.  Come, 
come.' 

And  he  caught  the  bridle  of  her 
horse  and  away  they  went,  and  for  the 
moment  she  forgot  all  about  the  Knight, 
for  from  behind  came  the  sound  of 


THE  BROWN  OWL  125 

crashing  branches,  and  she  knew  that 
the  Magi  were  following  them.  But 
the  old  hunter  ran  in  front  of  the 
horse,  tugging  at  the  bridle-rein,  and 
shouting  to  her  to  go  faster,  so  she 
leant  forward  and  whispered  in  her 
horse's  ear,  and  it  stretched  forward 
with  such  speed  that  it  outsped  the 
wind.  Gradually  the  sounds  behind 
began  to  get  less  and  less,  and  the 
wood  began  to  get  lighter,  and  at 
last  they  jumped  a  little  brook,  and 
were  at  the  end  of  the  forest  in  a 
smooth  meadow.  Here  the  old  man 
stopped. 

'  You  are  safe  now,'  he  said.  And 
she  drew  a  sigh  of  relief. 

*  At  last ! '  she  said ;  *  but  how  can  I 
reward  you,  my  preserver  ?  Would  you 
like  a  lock  of  my  hair,  or  a  purse  full 

of  gold,  or  a ?  well  that  wouldn't 

do — you  see  I  can't  well  offer  to  marry 
you,  though  that's  what  princesses 
generally  do  to  their  preservers. 
You'd    better    choose    something    for 


126  THE  BROWN  OWL 

yourself.  I  will  grant  it,  whatever 
it  is.' 

But  the  old  man  shook  his  head. 

'  I  want  no  reward,  your  Majesty ;  I 
only  did  my  duty.  I  couldn't  have 
done  less.  See,  here  come  some  of 
the  hunters  whom  you  left  behind.' 

And  just  then  several  of  them  came 
up,  and  when  they  saw  her  they 
shouted  and  blew  their  horns  to  let 
the  others  know  that  the  Princess -was 
found.     But  the  huntsman  said  : 

'Good-day,  your  Majesty.     I  must 

go.' 

'But  you  haven't  got  your  reward 
yet.' 

But  he  shook  his  head. 

'  I  want  no  reward,'  he  said ;  and 
before  the  Princess  could  say  any 
more  he  stepped  into  the  forest  and 
was  seen  no  more ;  so  she  turned  her 
horse  towards  the  town. 

On  her  way  she  met  the  head 
huntsman,  so  she  drew  rein  and 
said: 


THE  BROWN  OWL  127 

*  Why  did  you  not  follow  on  the 
scent  of  the  deer  ? ' 

'  It  lay  so  thinly,  your  Majesty,  that 
the  dogs  could  not  follow,  and  they 
soon  gave  in.' 

'  But  you  should  have  followed  me, 
at  any  rate.' 

*Ah,  your  Majesty,  we  might  as 
well  have  tried  to  prove  the  moon 
was  made  of  green  cheese.  Besides, 
your  Majesty  had  one  cavalier;  and 
sometimes  two's  company  and  three's 
none.' 

Just  at  this  moment  the  Princess 
remembered  the  Knight. 

*  Good  gracious ! '  she  said,  *  what 
has  become  of  the  Knight — have  none 
of  you  seen  him  ?' 

But  none  of  them  had,  and  although 
the  question  went  far  and  wide  no 
news  came  of  him,  nor  could  he  be 
seen  anywhere. 

*  He  must  have  been  caught  by  the 
Magi — if  so,  he  will  have  been  de- 
voured to  a  certainty !     Poor  Knight  1 ' 


128  THE  BROWN  OWL 

The  chief  huntsman  seemed  ex- 
cited : 

'Your  Majesty  has  not  been  near 
the  country  of  the  Magi  surely?'  he 
said. 

'  I  was  almost  too  near,  and  the 
poor  Knight  has  probably  been  torn  to 
pieces  in  trying  to  drive  them  back/ 

'Your  Majesty  should  be  thankful 
that  knights  are  so  faithful/  said  the 
chief  huntsman;  'but  perhaps,  after 
all,  he  has  escaped  by  a  different 
path.' 

But  the  Princess  sighed : 

'  I  am  afraid  not,'  she  said 

However,  she  rode  on  to  the 
town  to  consult  Lord  Licec  as  to  what 
had  better  be  done.  But  when  she 
got  there  she  found  that  he  was  out  ot 
town  and  would  not  be  back  till  next 
morning.  So  the  poor  Princess  had 
to  go  back  home  and  wait — but  she 
looked  so  pale  that  her  ladies-in-waiting 
insisted  on  sending  for  the  doctor. 
He    came    in    a    hurry,    and    asked 


THE  BROWN  OWL  129 

her  of  course  what  was  the  matter,  and 
when  she  told  him  he  shook  his  head. 

'I'm  afraid  he's  got  rather  a  poor 
chance,  for  these  Magi  haven't  had 
a  good  meal  of  one  of  your  Majesty's 
subjects  for  nearly  three  weeks,  and 
they  were  uncommonly  hungry.  But 
if  your  Majesty  will  allow  me  to  feel 
your  pulse,  I ' 

So  she  gave  him  her  hand,  and  he 
took  out  his  watch  and  began  to 
count.  '  One,  two,  three,  four  * ;  but 
just  then  he  looked  up  and  saw  the 
Owl  sitting  on  the  Princess's  shoulder, 
and  his  hand  trembled  so  much  that 
he  dropped  his  watch,  and  it  smashed 
to  atoms  on  the  floor. 

*0h  dear,  there  goes  ten  and  six- 
pence,' he  groaned  '  and  I  shan't  be 
able  to  get  another  for  ever  so  long. 
D'you  know,  your  Majesty,  I  think  you 
are  somewhat  feverish  ;  and  you  had 
better  go  to  bed.  And  meanwhile, 
the  Owl  is  too  exciting  for  you;  if 
you  could  let  it  be  put  in  a  cellar  and 

K 


130  THE  BROWN  OWL 

let  it  have  nothing  to  eat  for,  say^ 
three  weeks,  perhaps  it  might  not  be 
so  fiery  after  that.' 

The  Princess  smiled : 

'Perhaps  you  would  like  to  take 
him  there  yourself,'  she  said. 

But  the  doctor  said : 

'  Good  gracious  !  no.  I  think  he's 
perfectly  capable  of  taking  himself 
without  any  assistance.  D'you  know, 
your  Majesty,  I've  got  a  very  pressing 
case  outside ;  and  if  you  will  excuse  me 
I  will  retire.' 

And  he  retired  so  quickly  that  he 
left  his  umbrella  behind  him — for  you 
see  he  was  very  frightened  of  the  Owl. 

Acting  on  his  advice  the  Princess 
went  to  bed,  and  dismissed  her  ladies- 
in-waiting  and  told  them  not  to  come 
to  the  room  again  until  she  called  for 
them. 

And  then  she  lay  with  her  hand 
under  her  head  thinking  of  nothing  in 
particular,  and  the  Owl  sat  on  the  top 
of  the  canopy  over  her  bed. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  131 

Suddenly  she  heaved  a  deep  sigh. 

*  I  wish  I  knew  what  had  become 
of  him/  she  thought  to  herself. 

*You  wouldn't  like  it  if  you  did 
know,'  said  a  strange  cracked  voice 
that  seemed  to  come  from  nowhere  in 
particular.  She  started  up  and  looked 
all  round  the  room,  but  there  was  no 
one  to  be  seen;  so  she  thought  it 
was  all  imagination,  and  lay  down 
again.  And  again  she  thought  to 
herself,  *  How  I  should  like  to  be  with 
him.' 

*  No,  you  wouldn't,'  said  the  voice. 
This  time    she    was    sure   it   came 

from  the  Owl,  so  she  asked  quite  softly, 
*  Did  you  say  that,  cherished  Owl  ? ' 
And  the  Owl  answered  : 

*  I  did.' 

*  But  I  thought  you  could  not  speak, 
dear  Owl' 

'Well,  you  see,  I  can  sometimes — 
when  it's  necessary.' 

'  But  how  did  you  know  what  I  was 
thinking  ? — for  I  did  not  speak  aloud.' 


132  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'  Ah !  you  see,  Princess,  I  can't  tell 
you  that — it's  quite  enough  for  you 
that  I  can  tell.' 

'  But  why  do  you  say  I  should  not 
like  to  see  him  ? ' 

'  Because  you  wouldn't.' 

*  Why  ?  Is  he  all  torn  to  pieces  by 
the  Magi?' 

*  Torn  to  pieces  ! — not  he,'  laughed 
the  Owl. 

'  Oh !  that  is  good  news,'  said  she 
quite  joyfully.  '  Oh !  do  take  me  to 
him,  dear  Owl.' 

'Very  well,  Princess.  But  I  warn 
you,  you  won't  be  pleased  with  what 
you  see.'  But  the  Princess  was  quite 
confident. 

'  Oh  yes,  I  shall,  dear  Owl — when 
shall  we  go  ? ' 

'At  once,  if  you  like — the  sooner 
the  better.' 

'  Oh !  you  dear  Owl.  I'll  go  and 
get  dressed  at  once.' 

So  she  ran  into  her  dressing-room 
and  dressed  herself  in  no  time,  without 


THE  BROWN  OWL  133 

bothering  to  call  up  any  of  her  ladies- 
in-waiting  about  it.  Then  she  went 
back  to  the  room  \yhere  the  Owl  was 
waiting  for  her. 

He  was  sitting  on  the  floor  near 
the  fire,  blinking  quietly  at  the  coals, 
and  he  did  not  at  first  notice  her 
entry,  so  she  said  : 

'Well,  good  Owl,  shall  I  send  for 
the  horse  ? ' 

'  ^^'hat  for  ? '  asked  the  Owl. 

'  To  ride  on,  I  suppose ! '  she 
answered. 

*0h,  that's  it,  is  it?  That  would 
never  do.  Just  get  on  my  back,  and 
I'll  see  if  I  can't  carry  you  somewhat 
faster  than  a  horse  could.' 

So  she  got  on  his  back,  although 
she  was  rather  afraid  she  would  crush 
him  altogether.  But  somehow,  when 
she  sat  down,  she  sank  deep  into 
his  warm  feathers, — either  she  had 
grown  small,  or  the  Owl  had  grown 
very  big  all  of  a  sudden.  Without 
the  least  shock  they  passed  through 


134  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  wall,  and  out  into  the  clear  star- 
light. 

'Good  Owl,'  said  the  Princess, 
*  you  won't  let  me  fall,  will  you  ? '  for, 
to  tell  the  truth,  she  felt  rather  afraid 
on  the  whole ;  but  the  Owl  answered  : 

*No,  of  course  not;  you're  quite 
safe,  only  you'd  better  keep  close  to 
me,  for  we  shall  go  pretty  fast,  and 
the  wind  will  be  sharp  enough  to  cut 
your  hair  off.' 

So  she  sat  still,  protected  against 
the  wind,  and  looking  at  the  twinkling 
stars — for  the  Owl  flew  so  high  that  he 
almost  rubbed  some  of  them  out  of 
their  places. 

The  wind  whistled  loud  in  the 
wings  of  the  Owl,  but  his  flight  was 
so  regular  that  she  almost  fell  asleep, 
and  was  quite  happy — for  you  see 
she  felt  quite  safe.  Presently  the 
straight  flight  of  the  Owl  changed,  and 
he  began  to  circle  round  and  round, 
and  then  they  dropped  quickly  towards 
the  earth,  and  the  Owl  stopped. 


THE  BROWN  OWL  135 

'  You  can  get  off  now,'  he  said,  and 
she  stepped  off  his  back. 

'  Take  care,'  he  said  next ;  and  she 
rubbed  her  eyes  in  astonishment,  for 
she  found  herself  on  the  top  of  a 
roof. 

'I  told  you  you  wouldn't  like  it 
if  you  came,*  he  said.  *  But  you'd 
better  look  down  below  if  you  want 
to  see  anything  that's  going  on,'  and 
he  gravely  seated  himself  on  her 
shoulder,  for  he  seemed  quite  small 
again.  So  the  Princess  looked  down, 
and  she  saw  at  some  distance  below 
a  large  fire  that  was  blazing  in  a  sort 
of  courtyard,  and  then  she  saw  that 
it  was  the  battlements  of  a  castle 
on  which  they  were  standing.  Pre- 
sently a  horrible  -  looking  old  witch 
came  within  the  glow  of  the  fire — she 
was  an  awful  old  creature  too,  and 
she  almost  made  the  Princess  cry  out 
from  fright.  She  seated  herself  near 
the  fire,  and  began  to  beat  the  ground 
angrily  with  the  handle  of  a  broom 


136  THE  BROWN  OWL 

that  she  carried,  and  every  now  and 
then  muttered  as  she  did  so : 

'  How  awfully  late  he  is.  Why 
don't  he  come?'  and  various  other 
complaints  of  his  lateness. 

'  But  who  is  he  ? '  asked  the  Princess 
of  the  Owl  in  a  whisper. 

'  Wait,  and  you'll  see,'  said  the 
Owl. 

Just  then  something  peculiar 
happened  down  below — a  couple  of 
men  appeared  suddenly.  They  did 
not  seem  to  come  from  anywhere  in 
particular,  but  they  were  there  all  the 
same.  The  Princess  almost  screamed 
with  astonishment,  but  she  checked 
herself  in  time  by  stuffing  a  pocket- 
handkerchief  into  her  mouth,  for  one 
of  the  men  whom  she  saw  was  the 
Knight  of  London,  and  the  other  was 
Magog  the  King  of  the  Magi ;  and 
the  Knight  of  London  did  not  seem 
to  be  on  bad  terms  with  the  King  of 
the  Magi. 

'  You've  come  at  last,'  growled  the 


THE  BROWN  OWL  137 

old  woman,  in  a  voice  something 
between  the  squeaking  of  a  slate- 
pencil  on  a  slate  and  the  growling  of 
a  bear  with  a  sore  head. 

*  I  couldn't  come  any  sooner, 
mother,'  said  the  Knight  of  London 
soothingly ;  *  you  see  I  had  to  wait  for 
her  to  promise  to  marry  me.' 

*  Well,  has  she  promised  ? '  said  the 
witch. 

*  Not  yet.' 

*  Then  why  on  earth  not  ? ' 

'She  said  she  had  to  wait  for  the 
consent  of  the  Council.' 

'Why  didn't  you  eat  her?'  said 
Magog  sleepily;  and  then,  without 
waiting  for  an  answer,  he  curled  him- 
self up  close  to  the  fire  and  went  to 
sleep. 

But  the  old  witch  went  on : 

'Well,  and  what  are  your  plans 
now?' 

'  I'm  going  back  to-morrow  morning, 
and  I'm  going  to  take  old  Magog  and 
pretend  that  he's  my  prisoner  of  war. 


138  THE  BROWN  OWL 

and  then  the  stupid  old  Council  will 
say  I've  done  a  service  to  the  State, 
and  they  will  give  me  the  hand  of  the 
Princess  for  my  pains.' 

'  But  supposing  they  don't  ? ' 

'  Then  I  shall  cut  them  all  to  pieces, 
and  kill  the  Princess,  and  make  myself 
king  by  force — for  you  see  nothing  can 
cut  through  my  armour,  except  one 
thing.' 

*And  what's  that?'  asked  the 
witch. 

'Well,  I  don't  mind  telling  you, 
mother,  because  you  won't  go  and  tell 
any  one — it's  Paper ! ' 

'  That's  a  funny  sort  of  thing  to  cut 
through  armour.' 

'It  may  be  funny,'  answered  the 
Knight, '  but  it's  true  all  the  same,  and 
if  the  Prince  of  India  had  found  it  out 
I  should  not  be  where  I  am  now ;  only 
he  didn't,  you  see.' 

*  So  much  the  worse  for  him,'  said 
the  witch ;  '  but  is  there  nothing  at  all 
but  paper  that  can  cut  through  it  ? ' 


THE  BROWN  OWL  139 

•  Well,  there  is  one  thing  that  can — 
the  beak  of  the  Owl,  to  wit.' 

'  Tu  -  whoo  ! '  suddenly  cried  the 
Owl. 

The  effect  of  this  sudden  cry  was 
tremendous.  The  Knight  clung  to  his 
mother,  and  cried  out  in  a  piteous 
voice  : 

*  Oh,  mother!  mother!  it's  the  Owl ; 
save  me  I ' 

'  How  on  earth  can  I  save  you  if 
you  hang  on  me  Uke  this?'  said  his 
mother.  *  Just  throw  some  more  wood 
on,  so  that  we  can  see  this  Owl,  and 
I'll  fling  my  broom  at  it,  and  see  if 
that  won't  bring  it  down.' 

But  the  Princess  leant  her  head  to 
the  Owl,  and  said  : 

'Dear  Owl,  let's  go.  I've  seen 
quite  enough.' 

And  the  Owl  seemed  to  think  the 
same,  for  he  said  : 

'All  right.  Just  get  on  my  back 
again,  and  we'll  go.' 

So  she  did  as  she  was  told,  and  no 


140  THE  BROWN  OWL 

sooner  had  she  got  on  his  back  than 
she  fell  asleep,  and  remembered  no 
more  until  she  found  herself  lying  on 
her  bed  with  the  early  morning  sun 
shining  through  the  lattice. 

She  rubbed  her  eyes  in  astonish- 
ment, and  it  seemed  as  if  it  had  been 
all  a  dream.  But  it  all  was  so  clear 
on  her  mind,  and  besides  she  had  on 
her  riding-clothes  just  as  she  had  put 
them  on  to  go  with  the  Owl. 

To  make  herself  feel  more  sure  she 
said  to  the  Owl : 

'  Good  Owl,  was  it  a  dream  ? ' 

And  the  Owl  shook  his  head ;  but 
although  she  asked  him  several  times 
to  speak  she  could  not  get  the  least 
word  out  of  him,  although  he  always 
shook  his  head  if  she  asked  him  if  it 
was  a  dream. 

Just  then  a  tremendous  noise  in 
the  street  made  her  run  to  the  window, 
and  there  she  saw  the  Knight  of 
London  coming  up  to  the  door, 
dragging  the  King  of  the  Magi  behind 


THE  BROWN  OWL  141 

him  in  chains,  and  the  people  of  the 
town  were  following  him  in  an  excited 
crowd,  which  caused  all  the  noise,  for 
they  were  naturally  very  glad  to  see 
their  old  enemy  in  chains. 

The  Knight  rode  straight  up  to  the 
palace  door,  and  when  he  saw  the 
Princess  at  the  window  he  smiled  and 
said : 

*  Good  morning,  your  Majesty — you 
see  I  am  returned.' 

And  the  Princess  said  : 

*Good  morning,'  as  if  she  were 
very  glad  to  see  him,  for  she  had  not 
yet  quite  made  up  her  mind  about 
what  she  was  going  to  do — for  of 
course  she  could  not  marry  him  after 
what  she  had  seen  the  night  before. 
So  she  drew  back  from  the  window  to 
think  about  it — for  it  would  never  do 
to  try  to  get  rid  of  him  by  force.  At 
last  she  hit  upon  a  plan — she  had  to 
think  of  it  herself — for  the  Owl  would 
tell  her  nothing. 

She  went  to  the  door  of  her  room, 


142  THE  BROWN  OWL 

but  there  were  no  guards  at  the  door 
— they  had  run  down  to  see  what  the 
shouting  was  about.  But  just  then 
the  doctor  came  up  the  stairs ; 

*Good  morning,  your  Majesty,'  he 
said ;  '  have  you  had  a  good  night  ? ' 

'A  very  good  night,  thank  you, 
doctor.  But  that  doesn't  matter  just 
now.     I  want  the  Prince  of  India.' 

'  I  beg  your  pardon,'  said  the  doctor. 

'  I  say  I  want  the  Prince  of  India.' 

'The  who}^  said  the  astonished 
doctor. 

'  The  Prince  of  India.' 

'  Then  I  am  afraid  he  can't  come. 
But  if  the  Knight  of  London  would 
do ' 

'  But  he  won't !  I  want  the  Prince 
of  India  at  once.' 

*  I  fear  your  Majesty  can't  have  him 
at  once.  You  ivouldrCt  have  him  once, 
you  know.' 

'But  why  not?' 

'  Because  at  the  present  moment  he 
isn't  well  enough  to  move.' 


THE  BROWN  OWL  143 

'Oh,  good  gracious! — but  why  is 
that  ? ' 

'  Well,  your  Majesty,  if  you'd  been 
thrown  from  your  horse  with  great 
violence,  and  had  half  a  foot  of  spear 
stuck  into  you,  besides  being  mortified 
at  your  overthrow,  perhaps  you  would 
be  rather  unwell.' 

'  Oh,  poor  fellow,  I  didn't  know  he 
was  so  bad  as  that.  I'll  go  and  see 
him  at  once.' 

'  I  think  your  Majesty  had  better  not. ' 

'  Why  not  ? ' 

'Because  it  might  excite  him  too 
much,  and  besides,  what  would  the 
Knight  of  London ' 

But  the  Princess  drew  herself  up 
and  said : 

'  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  I  must  ask 
you  not  to  mention  that  gentleman's 
name,  if  you  please.' 

*Whe — ew,'  ejaculated  the  doctor; 
'  what's  in  the  wind  now  ? ' 

'  I  beg  your  pardon  ? '  said  the 
Princess. 


144  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'I — I  only  said — it's  an  east  wind 
now,  your  Majesty.' 

Just  then  a  page  came  running  up, 
and  said  that  the  Knight  of  London 
wished  to  speak  to  the  Princess. 

'  Tell  him  that  I  am  not  quite  well 
enough  to  see  him  now,  but  I  will  send 
a  message  to  him,  if  he  will  stop 
a  moment.  And  on  your  way  just 
ask  Lord  Licec  to  come  to  me, 
please.' 

*Yes,  your  Majesty,'  said  the  page, 
and  he  disappeared. 

In  a  moment  Lord  Licec  came. 

'You  sent  for  me,  your  Majesty,  I 
believe  ? ' 

*  I  did,  my  lord.  It  was  about  this 
Knight  of  London.  I  have  discovered 
that  he  is  not  what  he  pretends  to  be 
at  all,  for  he  is  in  league  with  the 
Magij  and  this  Magog  whom  he 
pretends  is  his  prisoner  is  really 
nothing  of  the  sort.  He  is  one  of 
his  allies,  and  they  are  going  to  break 
out  and  kill  me,  and  every  one  else, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  145 

and  make  themselves  masters  of  every- 
thing.' 

'  Oh,  my  wig ! '  suddenly  said  the 
doctor,  *  I  hope  your  Majesty  won't 
let  them;  if  you  intend  to  I  shall 
depart  without  delay,  for  I  don't  want 
to  be  eaten  by  this  Magog.' 

'That's  just  what  I  wanted  to 
prevent  by  begging  the  Prince  of 
India  to  help  us ;  only  you  said  that 
I  mayn't  see  him,  doctor.' 

*  Oh  !  on  the  contrary,  your  Majesty, 
it  would  be  the  best  thing  in  the  world 
— we'll  go  at  once.' 

*  AVait  a  moment,'  said  the  Princess, 
and  turning  to  Lord  Licec  she  went  on  : 

'Now  I  want  you  to  tell  him  that 
the  Lords  of  the  Council  say  that  the 
last  tournament  was  unfair,  because  he 
came  in  fresh  at  the  end.  And  that 
if  he  wants  to — to  claim  his  rights,  he 
must  submit  to  go  through  another 
tournament.  Of  course  he  will — 
because  he's  quite  sure  of  winning — 
but  he  won't  this  time.' 

L 


146  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*  Are  you  quite  sure,  your  Majesty  ? ' 
'  Oh  !  quite.     And  as  all  the  knights 

who  tilted  last  time  are  still  in  the 
town,  let  it  take  place  to-morrow.' 
'  Yes,  your  Majesty.' 

*  And  if  you  could  keep  him  out  of 
the  way  for  a  few  hours — so  that  he 
won't  know  what  I'm  going  to  do — so 
much  the  better.' 

'  I'll  challenge  him  to  a  game  of 
*'  Beggar-my-Neighbour  " — that  gener- 
ally lasts  for  a  pretty  good  time.' 

'  That  will  do ;  the  longer  the  better. 
Now  I'm  ready,  doctor,  if  you'll  conduct 
me  to  the  Prince.' 

So  they  went  out  at  a  back  door 
for  fear  the  Knight  of  London,  should 
see  them,  and  they  soon  reached  the 
house  of  the  Prince. 

At  the  door  was  a  servant,  and  they 
asked  him  where  the  Prince  was. 

'  In  the  garden,  your  Majesty.  I 
will  go  and  announce  your  arrival  to 
him.' 

But  the  Princess  said  : 


THE  BROWN  OWL  147 

*  Oh  no  !  never  mind — you  needn't 
trouble.' 

And  they  went  through  into  the 
garden.  On  the  way  the  Princess 
said  to  the  doctor  : 

*  I  thought  you  said  he  was  not  well 
enough  to  get  up  ? ' 

'  I  did,  your  Majesty,  but  he  insisted 
that  he  must  get  up,  and  be  off  to 
India  this  afternoon,  and  he  was 
excessively  violent  when  I  told  him  he 
had  better  not  get  up — in  fact  he — he 
kicked  me  downstairs ;  and  if  your 
Majesty  has  no  present  need  of  me  I 
will  retire,  for  to  tell  the  truth  he 
threatened  to  have  me  ducked  in  a 
horsepond  if  I  came  near  him  again — 
and  he  meant  it  too.' 

So  the  Princess  gave  him  leave  to 
go — in  fact  she  was  rather  glad  he  had 
gone  ;  and  she  went  on  walking  down 
the  path.  It  was  one  of  those  old- 
fashioned  manor-gardens,  full  of  tall 
stiff  hollyhocks,  and  damask  roses,  and 
beds  of  thyme  and  mint,  over  which 


148  THE  BROWN  OWL 

the  bees  were  humming  so  loudly  that 
they  could  be  heard  over  the  whole 
garden.  As  the  Princess  could  not 
see  him  down  one  path,  she  turned 
into  another  alley  of  stiff  holly  bushes, 
but  he  was  not  to  be  seen  down  there 
either ;  however,  she  walked  fast  to  the 
end  of  it — for  you  see  she  was  rather 
impatient.  Now  it  happened  that  just 
as  she  turned  the  corner,  the  Prince 
happened  to  be  coming  round  too,  and 
the  result  was  that  as  they  were  going 
rather  fast,  and  the  Prince  was  the 
heavier  of  the  two,  the  Princess  was 
thrown  back  with  violence  against  the 
hedge,  and  she  couldn't  help  ex- 
claiming : 

'  Oh ! ' — for  you  see  he  had  trodden 
on  her  toe.  As  for  the  Prince,  he  could 
scarcely  stand — for  the  shock  and  the 
sight  of  the  Princess  together  produced 
a  tremendous  effect,  as  you  may 
imagine — for  she  was  the  last  person 
he  had  expected  to  see.  - 

'  My  goodness  ! '  he  said,  as  soon  as 


THE  BROWN  OWL  149 

he  was  able  to  speak.  *  Your  Majesty — 
I  hope  I  haven't  hurt  you — I  am  really 
very  sorry.  I  am  very  sorry — will  you 
allow  me  to  help  you  to  a  seat? 
— for  I  see  I  have  trodden  on  your 
foot.' 

Her  Majesty  said : 

*  Oh  no  !  not  at  all,  thank  you.' 
But  all  the  same  she  let  him  give  her 

his  arm,  and  help  her  to  a  seat.  It  was 
a  rustic  seat — one  of  those  queer  seats 
made  of  branches  of  trees,  and  it  stood 
in  an  arbour  formed  of  rose-bushes,  and 
there  was  plenty  of  room  for  two ;  so 
she  said : 

'  W^on't  you  sit  down,  Prince  ? ' 

But  he  answered ; 

'  I  really  have  not  the  time,  your 
Majesty.  I  was  just  about  to  start  for 
India,  and  if  your  Majesty  has  no 
further  need  of  me  I  will  go,  and  send 
an  attendant.' 

But  she  did  not  seem  to  hear  the  last 
part  of  his  sentence,  for  she  answered  : 

*  You  were  going  away  without  say- 


ISO  THE  BROWN  OWL 

ing  good-bye  to  me.  Perhaps,  however, 
you  intended  to  call  as  you  passed  the 
palace.' 

'  I  really  had  not  intended  to,  your 
Majesty,  for  you  seemed  to  have  so 
many  affairs  that  I  might  have  in- 
terrupted, that  I  thought  it  as  well  to 
go  without  troubling  you.' 

*You  shouldn't  have  thought  that. 
You  see  I  have  had  so  many  affairs  of 
State  occupying  me  that  I  could  not 
possibly  get  round  to  call,  and  you 
didn't  choose  to  come  and  see  me, 
which  was  rather,  I  think — however, 
that  doesn't  matter  now.  I  have  come 
to  ask  you  to  stop  a  little  longer — till 
the  day  after  to-morrow,  if  you  won't 
stop  after  that' 

But  the  Prince  shook  his  head : 

'  I  have  to  go  immediately ;  affairs  of 
State,  you  know,  demand  my  presence 
in  India,  and  I  must  go  at  once,  your 
Majesty.' 

'Can't  you  really  stop  a  httle 
Prince  ? ' 


THE  BROWN  OWL  151 

*  I  really  can't,  your  Majesty — that 

*  Oh,  please  do ;  I'll  tell  you  some- 
thing, if  you  like.  I've  found  out  who 
the  Knight  of  London  is.' 

*  And  then,  your  Majesty  ? '  inquired 
the  Prince. 

*  I  don't  know  what  else.  I — I 
thought  that  would  be  enough  for  you.' 

'I  don't  understand  you,  your 
Majesty.' 

*  I  mean  that  when  I  didn't  know  he 
was  a  wizard  I  thought  he  was  very 
enchanting ;  but  when  I  found  out  he 
was  an  enchanter,  I  thought  you  were 
enchanter — I  mean  more  enchanting.' 

The  Prince  was  just  saying  : 

*  Oh,  your  Majesty,'  when  a  peculiar 
noise  from  the  back  of  the  arbour 
made  them  both  start,  and  the  Princess 
jumped  up  so  violently  that  the  Owl, 
who  had  meanwhile  gone  to  sleep,  was 
nearly  shaken  off  her  shoulder. 

*\Vhat  was  that?'  she  said. 

'  It  sounded  like  somebody  laughing, 


152  THE  BROWN  OWL 

or  trying  to  keep  from  laughing  rather. 
Just  wait  a  moment,  I'll  see  who  it  was.' 

And  he  went  round  behind  the 
arbour.  He  soon  returned  bringing 
the  doctor  with  him,  and  the  doctor 
did  not  seem  at  all  happy  either. 

'  Why,'  said  the  Princess,  '  I  thought 
you  were  going  to  leave  me.  How  is 
it  that  you  came  like  this  behind  the 
arbour  ? ' 

'I  might  just  as  well  ask  your 
Majesty  why  you  came  here.' 

'You  might,  but  it  would  not  be 
answering  my  question.' 

*  I  happened  to  come  round  there, 
your  Majesty,  to  read  a  book  in  the 
shade,  and  I  happened  to  drop  off  to 
sleep,  and  the  noise  you  heard  was  my 
snoring.' 

*  But  how  did  you  know  we  heard  a 
noise  if  you  were  asleep  at  the  time  ? ' 

'  I — eh — I  don't  exactly  know,  your 
Majesty.' 

'  It's  quite  clear  you  were  listening. 
I'll  excuse  you  this  time,  but  if  I  catch 


THE  BROWN  OWL  153 

you  eavesdropping  again  I'll  make  the 
Owl  take  you  up  into  the  sky  and  drop 
you — that  may  be  a  drop  too  much  for 
you.  You  can  go  now,  but  don't  do  so 
any  more.' 

But  the  Prince  had  still  hold  of 
him. 

•By  the  bye,'  he  said,  'there's  a 
horsepond  near  here ;  I  think  I'll  just 
take  you  there  and  throw  you  in, 
as  I  said  I  would  if  I  caught  you 
again.' 

But  the  Princess  said  : 

*0h,  let  him  go.  Prince,'  and  the 
doctor  hurried  off  at  a  great  rate. 

'  I  don't  think  he'll  come  back  again 
in  a  hurry,'  said  the  Prince;  'meanwhile, 
what  about  the  Knight  of  London  ? ' 

'  I  must  get  rid  of  him  as  soon  as  I 
can,  and  I  want  you  to  help  me.' 

•I,  your  Majesty — but  how?' 

'  The  Council  have  decided  that  last 
tournament  was  not  fair,  because  the 
Knight  came  in  fresh  and  you  were 
already  tired  out,  so  they  have  decided 


154  THE  BROWN  OWL 

to  have  it  over  again,  and  you  are  re- 
quested to  come  and  fight — for  me.' 

'  But  what  is  the  use  of  that  ?  he'll 
knock  me  over  just  as  he  did  before.' 

'  Oh  no !  he  won't,  because  I've  found 
out  his  secret'  And  she  told  him 
about  the  paper. 

At  the  end  the  Prince  said  : 

'  Oh  !  that's  all  right  then.  I'll  be 
there,  your  Majesty.' 

*  But  are  you  strong  enough,  do  you 
think?' 

*  Oh  yes,  your  Majesty.' 

'  And  the  affairs  of  State  can  be  put 
off  till  the  day  after  to-morrow.  I 
promise  to  let  you  go  as  soon  as 
you  have  got  rid  of  the  Knight  for 
me.' 

'  Oh,  for  the  matter  of  that,  there  is 
no  such  great  hurry.  I  really  needn't 
go  for  some  time.' 

'  But  you  can  go  whenever  you  like, 
you  know.' 

'  Thank  you,  your  Majesty.' 

'But — a — I  don't  want  you  to  go, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  155 

you  know.  In  fact  I  should  like  you 
to  stop,  very  much.' 

*  Then  I'll  stop  as  long  as  you  like, 
your  Majesty — for  ever,  if  you  like, 
your  Majesty.' 

'  I  should  like  it  very  much.  Prince,' 
she  answered. 

I  don't  exactly  know  what  happened 
after  that — perhaps  you  can  guess — 
but  they  do  say  that  the  Owl,  who 
chanced  to  wake  at  that  moment, 
positively  blushed  ;  but  then  people  are 
fond  of  exaggerating,  and  the  Owl  did 
not  seem  to  object,  so  I  suppose  it  was 
all  right ;  and  when  the  Princess  went 
back  to  the  palace,  the  Prince  was 
quite  good-tempered  again,  whereas 
before  her  visit  he  had  been  so  angry 
that  all  his  servants  had  left  in  a  body — 
however,  they  came  back  when  they 
found  he  was  quiet  again. 

So  the  Princess  was  quite  happy 
once  more,  as  you  may  imagine,  only 
there  was  one  nasty  thing  she  had  to 
do,  and  that  was  to  send  a  note  to  the 


156  THE  BROWN  OWL 

Knight  of  London  thanking  him  for 
having  taken  prisoner  the  King  of  the 
Magi,  and  hoping  that  he  would  be 
successful  at  the  tournament  on  the 
next  day — for  you  see  she  was  not  well 
enough  to  see  him,  and  he  was  quite 
sure  of  winning,  as  he  had  done  before, 
so  he  did  not  mind  it  very  much. 

The  next  day  came,  and  the  Princess 
was  at  the  hsts  as  before,  and  the 
crowd  was  just  as  great  too,  only  there 
were  very  many  less  knights  to  fight, 
for  the  Knight  of  London  was  the 
challenger,  and  he — well,  they  had  seen 
how  he  had  treated  the  Prince  of  India, 
and  they  did  not  care  to  be  tumbled 
over  in  such  a  very  unceremonious 
way.  However,  two  or  three  of  the 
bravest  in  the  world  came  and  answered 
his  challenge,  but  it  was  no  use ;  they 
might  just  as  well  not  have  tried,  for 
they  were  thrown  from  their  horses  so 
violently  that  they  were  most  of  them 
seriously  hurt.  So  it  seemed  as  if  he 
was  going  to  have  it  all  his  own  way, 


THE  BROWN  OWL  157 

for  the  Prince  had  as  yet  not  put  in  an 
appearance,  and  the  spectators  began 
to  call  for  him — for,  as  I  said  before, 
they  hked  the  Prince  better  than  the 
Knight ;  although  he  was  so  very  hand- 
some, still  there  was  a  something  about 
him  that  they  did  not  like  at  all.  But 
the  Knight  had  overcome  all  who  had 
chosen  to  come  against  him,  and  his 
trumpets  were  sounding  the  challenge 
for  the  last  time,  and  then  their  echoes 
died  away  and  still  no  answering 
trumpet  came,  and  the  Princess  was 
beginning  to  feel  afraid  that  he  had 
gone  off  to  India  and  left  her.  But 
just  as  the  Knight  was  advancing  to 
claim  his  rights,  a  trumpet  blast  rang 
out  brazen  and  shrill  on  the  still  air, 
and  the  Prince  of  India  rode  into  the 
lists.  He  was  still  pale  from  his  illness, 
but  the  people  cheered  him  loudly,  and 
the  Princess  gave  a  sigh  of  relief,  and 
quite  flushed  with  joy  and  excitement. 
*  He'll  win  this  time,'  she  said  to 
Lord  Licec,  who  was  standing  near  her. 


158  THE  BROWN  OWL 

*  I  don't  know  so  much  about  that,' 
he  answered,  *  for  you  see  the  Knight 
of  London  is  in  very  good  form  to- 
day; and  just  look  at  the  Prince's 
shield  —  it's  made  of  cardboard,  I 
should  think — yes,  it  is.  Ah — I  am 
afraid  his  last  defeat  has  rather  turned 
his  head.' 

The  Princess  smiled  and  nodded. 
Lord  Licec  thought  she  was  nodding 
to  him,  but  she  wasn't;  both  the 
smile  and  the  nod  were  meant  for 
quite  another  person. 

However,  the  combatants  were 
already  in  their  places,  so  she  signed 
to  the  heralds  to  give  the  signal. 

*  Laissez  allerj'  they  cried,  and  once 
again  the  Knight  and  Prince  charged 
each  other.  This  time  they  did  not 
go  so  fast,  and  the  spectators  could  see 
what  took  place.  It  was  soon  over. 
The  spear  of  each  of  the  combatants 
hit  exactly  the  centre  of  the  other's 
shield.  But  the  spear  of  the  Knight 
broke  as  if  it  had  been  made  of  a  bul- 


THE  BROWN  OWL  159 

rush.  It  was  not  so  with  the  Prince — for 
his  spear  pierced  through  and  through 
the  seven-fold  shield  of  the  Knight, 
and  the  Knight  himself  was  thrown 
right  off  his  horse  on  to  the  ground. 
He,  however,  was  on  his  feet  in  an 
instant,  and  rushed  at  the  Prince,  who 
leapt  off  his  horse  and  confronted  the 
Knight. 

The  Knight  made  a  pass  at  the 
Prince  with  his  rapier,  but  the  Prince 
caught  the  thrust  on  his  shield,  and  the 
sword  came  to  the  same  end  as  the 
spear.  The  Knight  had  still  his 
heavy  battle-axe,  and  he  lifted  it  on  high 
to  swing  it  down  on  to  the  head  of 
his  opponent.  The  Prince  made  no 
movement  to  defend  himself,  and  the 
axe  came  full  on  his  crest — through  the 
crest  it  hit  its  way,  and  through  the 
steel  helmet,  but  when  it  got  past  the 
steel  it  hit  on  a  paper  helm  below, 
and  the  axe  shivered  at  the  touch  as 
if  it  had  been  glass.  Then  the  Prince 
caught  the  Knight  by  the  wrist : 


i6o  THE  BRO  WN  O  WL 

'  Keep  still,'  he  said,  *  or  I  run  you 
to  the  heart  with  my  paper  dagger.' 

'You  can't,'  sneered  the  Knight. 

'  Why  not  ? ' 

'  Because  I'm  heartless ;  so  you  can't 
hurt  my  heart' 

The  Prince  took  no  notice  of  what 
he  said.  He  had  turned  to  the  Princess, 
who  was  clapping  her  hands  for  joy — 
which  was  rather  an  unprincess-like 
act ;  but  she  couldn't  help  it. 

*What  shall  I  do  with  him?'  he 
said. 

'  Let  him  go,  I  suppose.' 

And  the  Knight  was  beginning  to 
walk  off  as  fast  as  he  could.  But  a 
loud  and  commanding  voice  came  from 
behind  the  Princess,  and  she  looked 
behind  her  suddenly,  and  she  almost 
fainted,  for  a  marvellous  change  had 
come  over  the  Owl,  and  it  was  still 
changing.  She  rubbed  her  eyes  in 
astonishment,  and  all  the  people  who 
could  see  him  did  so  too,  and  then  a 
great  shout  went  up  from  all  of  '  God 


THE  DROWN  OWL  i6i 

save  the  King ! '  for  it  was  no  longer 
the  Owl  they  saw — it  was  the  old 
King. 

*  Stop ! '  he  cried  loudly  to  the 
Knight,  who  was  slinking  off — 'you 
have  not  received  your  reward  yet. 
Just  wait  a  moment,  and  to  prevent 
mistakes  just  take  your  ordinary  form.' 

And  again  every  one  present  rubbed 
their  eyes  in  astonishment — for  the 
handsome  calm  face  of  the  Knight 
was  shrivelling  up,  and  his  raven  hair 
had  become  an  ugly  gray,  and  the 
people  recognised  him  too  as  an  old 
acquaintance,  for  he  was — who  do 
you  think  now  ?  Why,  he  was  Merry- 
mineral — it  seemed  as  if  that  day 
gave  two  instances  of  old  friends  with 
new  faces. 

Although  he  didn't  at  all  seem  to 
want  to  stay,  he  was  obliged  to  stop  at 
the  King's  voice.  So  he  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  lists  looking  very  un- 
comfortable— for  every  one  was  looking 
at  him.     The  King  began  : 

M 


i62  THE  BROWN  OWL 

'  Now  let  US  see  how  many  crimes 
you  have  committed.  You  have  broken 
your  oath — isn't  that  right  ? ' 

*  Oh  !  quite  correct,  your  Majesty.' 
'And    you   have    rebelled    against 
my  daughter  ? ' 

'  Quite  correct,  your  Majesty.' 
'  And  you  have  intended  to  murder 
her?' 

'Just  so,  your  Majesty.' 
'  And  you  tried  to  marry  her  ? ' 
'I    should    have    been    only    too 
pleased,  your  Majesty.' 

'  And  you  don't  repent,  do  you  ? ' 
'  Not  at  all,  your  Majesty.' 
'  And  the  right  punishment  for  each 
of  your  crimes  is  death  ? ' 
'Just  so,  your  Majesty.' 
'  But  I  don't  care  to  sentence  you 
to  '  death — it's   not  hard  enough.      I 
sentence  you  to  live  underground  for 
ten  thousand  years.' 

'Ten  thousand  years,  your  Ma- 
jesty ! ' 

'  You  can  go  at  once,  and  if  I  catch 


THE  BROWN  OWL  163 

you  above  ground — I  shouldn't  like  to 
be  you.' 

*  No,  your  Majesty.     Good-day.' 
And   he   kissed   his    hand   to   the 

Princess,  and  bowed  gallantly  to  the 
Prince  of  India,  and  then  the  ground 
gave  way  under  him — and  he  has  never 
been  heard  of  since.  But  the  King 
turned  to  the  Prince  of  India  and 
said  : 

'  You  may  go  now.  Prince.' 

The  Prince  looked  astonished. 

*I  do  not  quite  understand,  your 
Majesty,'  he  said. 

The  King  looked  at  him  and 
said : 

*  You  seem  to  be  uncommonly  hard 
of  understanding,  cousin  of  India.  I 
said,  You  can  go.' 

'But  I  don't  want  to  go,  your 
Majesty,'  the  Prince  answered,  getting 
a  little  red. 

*0h,  don't  you?'  said  the  King; 
'from  what  I  heard  of  a  certain 
pleasant    conversation    in    a    certain 


i64  THE  BROWN  OWL 

summer-house  you  seemed  to  have 
important  affairs  of  State  that  demanded 
instant  attention.' 

Here  the  doctor  suddenly  re- 
marked : 

*  If  you  will  excuse  me,  your  Ma- 
jesty, I  beg  to  differ  from  you  when 
you  refer  to  that  conversation  as 
pleasant.  I  myself  heard  it,  or  rather 
overheard  it,  and  all  I  can  say  is  I 
thought  it  most  unpleasant, — most. 
That  is,  if  your  Majesty  will  excuse  my 
remark.' 

'But  I  won't,'  said  the  King 
suddenly.  *  I  believe  it  was  you  that 
suggested  I  should  be  confined  to  a 
dark  cellar  for  three  weeks  without 
food — eh  ! ' 

But  the  doctor  suddenly  remembered 
that  he  had  an  important  case  that 
demanded  instant  attention. 

The  King  turned  to  the  Princess 
and  said : 

*  Well — I  suppose  you  can  settle  it 
for  yourselves,  you  two,  because  I'm 


THE  BROWN  OWL  165 

going  now.  I  shall  come  and  see  you 
every  seven  years.     Good-bye.' 

And  he  suddenly  turned  into  the 
Brown  Owl,  and  flitted  noiselessly  off, 
before  they  could  say  *  Good-bye,'  or 
anything  else. 

The  Prince  found  that  he  could 
manage  to  postpone  his  affairs  of  State 
indefinitely,  and  in  a  few  days  the 
Prince  and  Princess  were  married  and 
lived  happily  ever  afterwards. 


THE  END 


Prinitdby  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Edinburgh 


/ 


